He Knew Her First
by little red cardigan
Summary: He was the expected monster he was supposed to be to everyone else except her. Because together, they were perfect. *REAL CHAPTER 8 UP!*
1. He Knew Her First: I and II

**Disclaimer: **I unfortunately own nothing. All ingenuity goes to the great Suzanne Collins.

**A/N: **If you don't like Cato/Katniss, then I suggest you don't read any further. The characters might seem OOC, but hey, that's the beauty of fanfiction. This is going to be a short one - at least another chapter or so. This is my first fiction in the Hunger Games and I've also recently re-entered the fanfiction world, but I doubt I'll update as much as I used to. I'm pretty sure this story line has been overdone...but, oh well.

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><p><strong>He Knew Her First<strong>

**(I.)  
><strong>No, please, no. Anyone—_anyone_ but her.

She was a vision blue-black silk of hair that flowed down to her waist, the opalescent skin that highlighted a luminous loveliness underneath the fainted glows of the room, the gentle fluttering of dark lashes, the owlish blinking of metallic grey orbs, and the look of pure boredom that would seldom elusively escape her stunning facial features. Boredom, at a time like this. Pale, stick-thin, and filled with delicate lines, she was too beautiful to live such a short life. She hadn't lived even half of it before the guarantee of death knocked on her door.

He never meant to fall in love with her. After all, he personified the cold and heartless brute very well all these years, hidden under the exterior of his devastatingly handsome countenance. It was a means of survival and one that helped him prepare for the Games that he was always meant to compete in. But she had slyly crept on him, ensnaring his body and soul intact out of the blue. He had taken the route to resist the overwhelming emotions and feelings, but that hadn't gone too well. He was a long goner before he even realized it.

Any fantasies he had over winning the Games and pursuing her after the victory tour flew out the window. His plans to date her and essentially hope to gain her love in return had diminished before his very eyes. His yearning vision for his future had been predominantly destroyed the moment he watched a recap of the reapings whilst on the train. This fragile, delicate little thing called _Cato's heart_ had shattered into millions of pieces as he watched her volunteer for her own younger sister.

The tall male from District 2 paced about the room in agitation, his drastic inner monologue stretching out far longer than it should be as his thoughts struggled remotely to comprehend anything. First his father, then his aunt and uncle together, and now her? Was the goddamn nation of Panem intent on taking everything away from him?

"She's my sister, Cato," Katniss explained to him, her words performing an iron drill to his turbulent thoughts as she merely sat cross-legged on her own bed. "I'd never thought Prim would ever get reaped on her first year. She wasn't ready for the Games. She didn't deserve this." Sweet Prim in the Hunger Games? _Hell, no._

"And you think _you_ do?" he shot back curtly. "You really want to get yourself killed?"

Her silver eyes narrowed at his comment. "Of course not," she responded sharply. "If I had known that you would be entering the Games..."

Cato instinctively softened. "I was going to tell you…"

"Oh, really? Were you going to tell me before or after I'm watching you die on live television? How about when your mother's sending me an invitation to your funeral—is that when you were going to tell me?"

An awkward silence followed the end of her biting statement. Cato had gradually hardened at her words, but he knew that she was right. Keeping it to himself must have been one of the most tactless things he could ever do to her. He watched her as pulled her legs to her torso, her chin resting atop her knees as she stared blankly at the wall in the opposite direction, her anger having evaporated as quickly as it had sparked in the first place.

Taking Katniss' absence of sound as somewhat of an incitement, the male crawled onto the bed, planting his body right beside hers. Almost automatically, her head dropped to lean against his shoulder.

"If I had never encountered you, I wouldn't be worrying over this," he started out quietly, his voice not filled with anticipated regret but with somber thoughtfulness. His fingers enfolded over her skinny wrist warmly. "I would have been the same bloodthirsty monster I was when you first met me and I probably would have been plotting how to kill you, along with everyone else, at this very moment."

Katniss made a whimsical humming noise. "Thank God you've had the pleasure of me gracing your life, eh?"

Despite the tremulous situation they had gotten themselves into, the two teenagers both started chortling in their own expense. Rather than continuing to brood over at how their lives were really unfortunate, they reluctantly accepted their own blunder of a decision, and the consequence that followed it.

"Could I stay here tonight?" The urge to protect her started now; even in her sleep he would guard her from harm.

Her answer was a simple nod before she drew back the covers of the bed. Slipping under the blanket in a fluid motion, she patted the empty space on her left side for him to fill. Not being one to disappoint, Cato crept to the spot, pulling the covers with him and cocooning the both of them with materialistic comfort. Instinctively, the pale female rolled over until she had her nose pressed against the outline of his neck, and naturally, he wrapped both arms around her willowy frame and dragged her even closer, his lips against her hairline. Letting out a small sigh, kissed her forehead very gently, prepared to stay awake the entire night when she had already fallen asleep within the first two minutes.

He would make sure that she would make it out of these Games alive, even if it meant giving up his own life.

**(II.)  
><strong>It was complete and utter chaos once the countdown ended. There was a special reason why people called it the initial bloodbath because this was where a handful of tributes die by the margin in one setting.

Katniss was by far the fastest of all this year's tributes. In less than fifteen seconds, she had already picked up a stray pack filled with a miscellany of provisions and she had easily plucked the bow and the quiver filled with the many beautiful fletched arrows before quickly darting into the enclosure of the deep forestry terrain ahead of her. She ran just in time to see the way Cato - _her_ Cato - brutally murdered a boy from District 3 from the corner of her eyes. All the other tributes were still caught up in the hazardous zone of the Cornucopia to even attempt to escape into the forest. At least this small factor gave her somewhat of a head start.

Before she could stretch her path forward, a nearby scream was omitted and pure heroism kicked in her veins. There had been no need to run far since the attack was only a couple running distances to her right. Her heart had stunted into an unneeded stop when Peeta Mellark had his ribcage shattered by the blade of an axe. The male from District 5 couldn't even make another swing before a slender arrow had lodged itself straight into his heart, immediately killing him upon impact.

She jolted forward, coming to her knees beside Peeta as she looked at him with a hardened emotion akin to guilt around her smoldering irises. The skin where the axe had touched him was a horrendous sight, edges of the smooth surface ripped raggedly from the curved metal. As his skin peeled, oozes of red blood gushed out from his body, making a small pool around the two teenagers. She was certain that she could see the stark whiteness of his bones sticking out from the mess.

"You'll…you'll tell my family?" Peeta breathed out hoarsely, droplets of blood gathering against the corner of his mouth.

Katniss nodded, already knowing what he was referring to. The night before, the two tributes of District 12 had made an unconscious and silent pact to send their condolences to the other's family if they actually won, even if they hadn't promised to protect each other. The Games had suddenly changed on her because now she had a reason to fight for. She had to at least _try_ to survive so she could make it back to the dying bread boy's family in their home district and apologize for not saving him sooner.

A rough chuckle broke her thoughts away. "You can't save everyone, Katniss. This…isn't your fault." When she still looked nonplussed, he coughed up some more dreadful blood. "I couldn't manage to get a…a weapon, but I did get one of the packs. You should take it."

Peeta Mellark died before she could argue back.

The cameras had probably left her the moment she started to rearrange Peeta, but she didn't give a damn. Katniss had fixed her district partner's position, straightening his spread-eagled frame and folding both of his hands together before placing them upon his chest. She wiped the blood that pooled at his mouth with the edge of her sleeve, pulling his shirt down to cover his gory wound. Picking at some nearby wild flowers, she weaved some in his hair and scattered all of them around to make a soft bed of white flowers. Carefully brushing the tendrils of his hair back to reveal the kind face concealed behind it, she had finally deemed him presentable to be taken by the Capitol's hovercraft.

"Katniss?"

Aforementioned girl averted her eyes wearily. "Hey," she uttered mechanically, her motions matching with her tone as she filled her pack with all the contents in Peeta's own pack without even looking. She went towards the deceased boy from District 5, drawing the shaft of her arrow out and wiping it clean amongst the patches of grass.

"Did you kill both of them?" Cato was surprised that she had made her kills already.

"Just the one from District 5."

She was being extraordinarily curt with him, a concept completely foreign to Cato. _Fuck, no…_ He knew this would happen to them. He _knew _it. He just knew they would begin to regard each other as enemies. The Games had the tendency to do that to you.

His heart pounded loudly in his ears. "Katniss, don't—"

The boy from District 2 was shortly cut off when she dismissed the beginning of his plead with a wave of her hand. Her index finger touched the crevice of her ear. _The whole world is listening. _Of course that was why she was being so uncharacteristically cold to him. After his brain was done processing that thought, he internally cursed himself for not being that clever. No one could know that they had been friends before the Games. He was rather ashamed that the sentimental part of him misinterpreted her succinct composition as the lethal end of their relationship.

Knowing the cameras were still trained on them, Cato could do nothing else but nod briskly at her, the glare on his face promising that he would kill her the next time he saw her, but the emotion beneath the depth of his eyes promising to do anything and everything to protect her.

Feigning a narrowed glance, Katniss ran off without a second glance, inadvertently taking Cato's heart along with her.

Two days would pass before the two would encounter each other again. That was only after he had violently slaughtered a girl from District 7, having been rowdily encouraged by his fellow Careers: Clove, his district partner, Marvel and Glimmer of District 1, and Coral and Tai of District 4. And it was only after the Gamemakers decided to set a whole distinct part of the forest ablaze.

Cato had physically and mentally panicked when he noticed that most of the fires had traveled the way Katniss had taken beforehand. After receiving his own burns to spare, he could only hope that she had managed to escape after he could find no whereabouts of her life.

From her strewn position atop a high tree branch, Katniss shifted from sleep when a silver parachute landed with a small beeping noise on top of her flat stomach. She was shocked to have a sponsor gift only an hour after escaping the tribulations of falling trees and burning debris. The Girl on Fire had made a better impression to the citizens of the Capitol than Katniss thought she would. Applying the cream generously to all her burns, she let a small grin come to her face to feel the cooling sensations.

"Hey there, Firegirl."

Her trademark bored expression made its way onto her face as she capped the small pot of burning cream. It was Cato's voice that addressed her. "Good to see you, Cato," she paused demurely. "And you too, Clover."

"It's _Clove_," Cato's district partner gnarled in offense.

"How's everything with you?" Katniss smiled down at the group of Careers that were loitered at the base of the tree.

Cato smirked back. "Well enough. How about you?"

"It's a bit too warm for my taste." She could almost hear the laughter ranging from the Capitol. She shifted her position precariously, letting her thin legs dangle from the branch. "The air's better up here. Why don't you come up?"

"Think I will."

Katniss' ears trained on their conversation as she listened to Cato decline on whatever Glimmer was offering, claiming that he'd do much better with his sword. As he started to climb, the Careers still afoot miss the reversal of expressions that design Cato's face. The expected arrogance slipped steadily from his face and his blue eyes gleamed with a nonverbal thought that she understood well from her point of view. _I won't hurt you. _

As though he had proclaimed the very thought aloud, it was not a coincidental act when Cato managed to _slip_ his footing on a branch, causing it to snap and letting his back collide with solid ground. Concealing the grimace that came with the short, yet sharp pain, he turned his facial features into indignant anger for the rest of the Careers.

After much growling to each other, Coral comes up with the brilliant plan to just camp out near Katniss' tree. There was much brash talking from that crude Tai of District 4, but Cato was oddly quiet about everything. From her position up in the tree, she laughed quietly to herself after having witnessed Glimmer's useless attempts at flirtation with Cato. Dear Lord, no wonder why people enjoyed watching the Hunger Games so much.

Or she could be jealous. _No._

Once Cato knew that all the members of his group were asleep, he pushed himself away from his sleeping bag, his eyes rolling when he noticed that Glimmer was about a foot closer to him before they had started to sleep.

He approached the tree again—why did his heart have to drum so damn _hard_? "Katniss."

Katniss' face appeared above, white and beautiful as an angel. "Cato, what are you doing?"

"Are you okay?" Unbeknownst to him, his brows knitted together as he reached out to grasp at a thick branch. He climbed as high as he could, but his massive build is far from Katniss' more agile and lissome one. His head tipped upward, gaze never once wavering from her face.

"I'm fine," Katniss replied, silently jumping off branches with such enviable ease. She met him halfway towards the secondary level of branches, crouching on her heels whilst Cato was still just one branch below her. In her palm sat a small pot of some sort of something he didn't quite know. "You're burned," she noted the charred and blistered skin of his neck.

She poked two digits into the jar as she sat above him, rubbing them together before reaching down to gently spread the healing balm across the couture of his wounded neck. The effect was almost magical, erasing the pain on contact and leaving many soothing tingles behind. Sighing pleasantly, Cato lifted his arm, letting his fingers instinctively intertwine with the fingers of her other free hand.

The Capitol must have been confused by their implications by now, just as Cato always was when around her.

"I'll keep the others away from you." Cato pressed their locked hands against his cheek with temperate fervor. After daring to kiss the inside of her wrist in front of the cameras, he made another affirmation. "They won't touch you."

"They might not have the chance to." At his inquiry of a glance, she nodded her head up at the branch she was currently using as a means of a bed. His eyes widened at the sight of a large tracker jacker nest. It was only a few short inches of where Katniss' head would be in her own sleeping bag.

"You…?" The blonde male was momentarily too stunned to speak.

Katniss nodded to confirm his suspicion. "Three-fourths of it is already sawed off. I'm going to saw the rest of it off the next morning, before they all wake up," she squeezed his hand tightly to get his attention. "When I give you the signal, you need to get the hell out of there. Go to the lake—say you're getting more water. Just make up an excuse, okay?"

"Alright."

Shocking Cato in earnest, and nearly giving him a heart-attack in front of live television, Katniss leaned down and placed her mouth over his forehead, her lips gently brushing over the tip of his right brow. Smiling slyly at him, she wiggled her hand out of his grasp and swiftly scurried up the length of the tree.

_To be continued..._

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><p><strong>Another AN:** Don't hate me. I had to kill Peeta for a reason - writing it broke my heart too ;( So, what do you think? I'm trying to stray from the original story line. Review if you can please!


	2. He Knew Her First: III and IV

**A/N: **I never thought I would receive this many beautiful amount of reviews (I consider anything more than 5 a lot of reviews) so thank you very much. I'd also like to thank all of those who've notified me that I've made a mistake with Katniss' name in the last chapter. I've gone back and fixed it already, so no worries. That might happen again, and I'd appreciate it if you'd tell me when it does :) I'm pretty sure the next chapter will be the last in this strange three-shot.

Just to let you know, this chapter contains different muttations than the one used in book. I incorporated the ones from _Mockingjay_ instead. Was I the only one that thought the muttations looked kinda cute in the movie?

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><p><strong>(III.)<br>**Katniss swore she saw Caesar Flickerman standing on the branch beside her.

In all honesty, she couldn't differentiate between reality and fantasy anymore. Gritting her teeth, she fortunately had half the mind to pull out the seven abnormally large stingers out of her arms but that only made the hallucinations worse. She wondered why there was a white, fluffy rabbit doing some sort of strange dance that involved wigging its body. Another seemingly real delusion was a caterpillar cocoon that was the size of a house. She imagined a massively large and pretty butterfly would fly out of that cocoon.

Her peripheral vision started to face in and out, the outer edges blurring out as she tried vainly to focus on the sight that was laid before her. Poor Glimmer and Coral—_not really_—were in the process of erratically twitching to death after the tracker jacker hive burst open after crashing to the ground next to their campsite. Their identically hysterical screams had faded after about five minutes, their features eradicated by the mutant attack and their limbs swelling three times their usual size. It's the sound of two cannons that mark their official deaths.

A foul-smelling green liquid is oozing out in all the places where she pulled out her own stingers. Wrinkling her nose, there is a green catastrophe coating the bodies of what used to be Glimmer and Coral. Somehow the green liquid looks more interesting on their bodies, making her want to almost touch them—

"What are you still _doing_ here?" A familiar voice hissed from behind her, large hands planting themselves atop her shoulder before roughly twirling body around so that she met five Catos dancing before her eyes.

"Hi, Cato! And Cato and Cato…"

"Are you mad?" he demanded. That was until he finally noticed the numerous swellings on her arms. "Oh, shit."

The male from District 2 resisted the urge to vomit at the sight of both Coral and Glimmer. Obviously, Katniss must have executed her plan well, but probably didn't have the time to avoid getting stung herself.

Cato had been at the lake the entire dawn morning just as Katniss advised him to do so. It had been only a mere twenty minutes to himself and his irrelevant thoughts when Marvel, Tai, and Clove came roaring into the lake, avoiding more of the violent jabs from the genetically-altered wasps that were bred in the Capitol's labs. While the unfortunate victims were deep in the middle of the waters, Cato quickly taken his leave to see the rest of the damage.

"_You traitor!" _

He snapped his head around to see Tai slashing his way through the brush, badly stung under one eye and an assortment of swellings covering his entire neck and his one of his forearms. It didn't take being a genius to figure out that the other large Career boy had directly addressed this to Cato.

In that singular millisecond, Cato made a choice that he wouldn't ever regret. It was a choice he should have taken since the start of this year's deranged Hunger Games. Whirling around in place, he fluidly plucked Katniss off the ground and threw her over his broad shoulder. Narrowly escaping a dagger that was angrily thrown by Tai, he sprinted across the glades with the intent of getting away from the rest of the Careers as far as possible. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that there was a smaller lake a couple of miles from here.

When he arrived at the lake, he delicately dropped her along a flat bank and started ripping part of the lower half of his shirt. Rolling it up into a less than distinct copy of what a rag should look like, he sipped it into the cold water, squeezing it so that it wouldn't be soaking wet before wiping her swollen arms with it. By now, Katniss was completely out of it, most likely having succumbed to unconsciousness while he had been escaping Tai's wrath. Judging by the way he was wiping rapidly at her arms, he was glad that she was too knocked out to even feel the pain.

Thank the heavens above he was smart enough to grab some of the medicinal leaves he had the luck in finding. He had found them a couple days ago, recognizing them as a treatment to the wasps' stings as the trainer had told him. Without thinking, Cato pulled at a leaf and put one in his mouth. Again, he resisted the urge to gag for the second time that day at the torrid taste as he chewed on it, surely thinking that Katniss owed him big time for this one. He draped the chewed leaf on one of her swellings and painstakingly repeated the process.

"How'd you know?" the pale girl asked, having resurged from abeyance later that night. She lied next to Cato, who was also stretched on his back with his arms behind his head, gazing idly at the darkened sky. "With the leaves and all?"

Cato snorted. "Why the tone of surprise?"

"I didn't think they taught how to chew leaves in District 2."

"The trainer at the plants station told me how to do it," he muttered back, his icy blue-eyes rolling in effect. "Good thing I visited that station too. I saved your life." With this, he sent her a cocky smirk.

Katniss shook her head, biting back a smile. "You're overdramatizing the whole situation."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Why can't you just say thank you?" Cato threw at her with mild irritation. _The Capitol must be eating all this up. _

Fully donning a shit-eating grin on her face, Katniss edged closer, hovering near Cato's face. Although it was dark, she could tell that the male's face was heating up rather adorably. Flushed, he silently threw every curse word he knew out there and closed his eyes to resist the temptation of looking at her face. She kissed him again, this time on his upper cheek, for a brief amount of time that was enough to nearly undo him right then and there.

"Thank you," she murmured, her breath just ghosting past his ear, all evidence of tease overridden by sincerity to exemplify how serious she was.

"You're welcome," he grumbled. He could feel his face turn redder when he heard her tinkling laugh.

It's Panem's national anthem that erased all traces of what was supposed to be adolescent normalcy. Looking back up at the sky with severity, they are not surprised to find Glimmer's face looking down upon them. However, they were both shocked—Cato more so than Katniss—when Clove's face appeared right before Coral's.

"They killed her," Cato snarled with turbulent rage. "They _fucking_ killed her!"

"Maybe it was one of the other tributes," Katniss offered in the strained tension.

He continued to display ferocity. "Bet you it was Tai that killed her," he glared into the open air in front of him. "She was pretty much my only connection to home. Of course he would destroy all remnants of that. Her cannon must have shot while we were sleeping."

Cato would murder the both of them—Tai and Marvel. He would kill Marvel first for being a useless bastard and not stopping the idiot from District 4 and then save Tai for last for killing Clove in the first place.

"I think it's time we cut their supply short."

He was nearly started by her cryptic remark, almost forgetting she was there. "What?"

Katniss elegantly lifted an eyebrow. "Haven't you been listening to what I've been saying?"

_She's been saying something? _Cato unintentionally blanched.

"Just kidding."

Damn her.

A few daylight hours later found Cato face to face with Marvel himself. The blonde male knew that Katniss was watching their encounter from somewhere high above, concealed by the boughs of the tall trees. The moment morning struck, Katniss lured the boy from District 1 in by fleeing in and out of his vision like a scampering squirrel. It was their luck that Marvel chose the chance to follow her with aims to kill her, rather than staying with Tai and a new member to their alliance, a small girl from District 3.

Marvel put up a strong face in front of the whole Panem, but Cato could see his Adam's apple wobbling. "Cato."

He merely inclined his head brusquely at the other male.

"You're probably pissed as hell. I get that but—" Marvel started to explain, yet he couldn't continue after those first few words.

"Did Tai kill Clove or was it you?" Fuck this, he already knew the answer.

"…It was Tai."

The overwhelming fury from yesterday came surging back tenfold. "And you stood there and did _nothing _to stop it? Tai has shit with me, not Clove. The least you could have done was preventing it from happening, asshole."

Marvel's face reddened with his own anger. "Don't call me that, you backstabbing, traitorous—"

The ranting male didn't have enough time to push the rest of his words out because at the very second he came back with a rebuttal, Cato had diminished the distance between them in two long strides. As Marvel managed out the last word with a fruitless grip of his spear, Cato's hands had found their way around the other boy's neck. With a quick and hard snap of his throat, Marvel's face had twisted with an unhealthy _snap_ and had fallen to the floor.

After the distant sound of the cannon, Katniss lithely dropped to the ground from literally out of nowhere. She surveyed the dead tribute, her nose wrinkling at the sight of his head fixated unnaturally before tugging on Cato's arm. "C'mon, I've found out where Tai is keeping all his supplies at."

It was not far from the Cornucopia. Why Tai needed that many supplies was simply ridiculous. All of the things were stacked up into a high pyramid, with several of the circular metal plates surrounding the large pile. Katniss recognized the metal plates as the same one they stood on right before the initial bloodbath. Of course that was why the boy from District 4 allowed that girl from District 3 in on his alliance so easily.

"You sure this is going to work?" Cato asked from his position, hidden under patches of leafy bushes.

"Yes," Katniss nodded, reaching for an arrow and notching it against taut string of her bow. With her tongue pressed against her cheek in concentration of the vast difference between her and the target she was aiming for, she added, "If the metal plates were designed to explode if a tribute stepped off, it should happen the other way around."

With that neatly said, Cato watched as she let the arrow fly with exceptional accuracy, the tip of the shaft making its way speedily towards a…bag of apples? The pointed tip cut the net that held the apples, observing as all the apples went spilling out slowly down the tower of supplies. One fruit was rolling down the supplies within each bump until languidly stretching upon the ground, inching towards one of the metal plates. An enormous explosion followed once the rounded fruit touched just a millimeter of the metal plate.

One by one, all the metal plates exploded with bangs that were loud enough to alert the Capitol far away. After mixing with the combustion of air, they erupted into massive torrents of flames as all the supplies went flying from the impact. In the aftermath, the supplies were either burning to a crisp of nothingness or already destroyed. Once the whole earth beneath them stopped vibrating, Tai and the small girl from District 3 came running in to witness the collateral damage.

Tai's explosive tantrum was verily expected. After kicking and screaming at the remains of their supplies, he pinpointed his dark gaze upon the girl of Three, heavy with accusation. Still concealed within the bushes, they could hear the girl begging and pleading for something—most likely her life. It took most of Katniss' constraint not to come barging into the scene to protect the little female when Tai rammed the entire length of his sword up the girl's spine.

"They were only supplies," Katniss muttered pointedly.

"I'd be pretty pissed too." The blonde male didn't understand why he was defending Tai. Judging the way he was born and raised in the path of Careers, it was pretty much expected to react that way.

Only four more tributes left.

**(IV.)  
><strong>"Get up the Cornucopia!" Cato screamed at her as he pushed Katniss in front of him.

The two of them were currently being chased by four-legged muttations that had sharp talons at the end of each finger, and had white skin that was eerily reminiscent of Katniss' own pale skin. They were lizard-like creatures with long reptilian tails, arched backs, and heads that jut jaws that enabled them to decapitate anything with one bite. The monsters also resembled humans, considering their size and their ability to walk on their hind legs as well as on four.

Katniss remarkably jumped the high space between the ground and one of the layers of the Cornucopia, reaching her arm back for Cato to latch on. It was a feat itself how Katniss managed to pull the muscled male up the silver assemble, reeling him in with all her strength just in time before Cato's swinging feet were almost bitten off by the muttations. She had pulled at him with another surge of force but he just came stumbling into her, easily knocking her to the floor with his own body.

Before they could have any minute to rest, a hand came upon the back of Cato's shirt and suddenly pulled him off. Cato spun around to see Tai's bruised and bloody face before the latter boy punched him squarely in the face. He would have reacted more quickly had it not been for the gruesome bite he attained from one of those damned lizard monsters.

Her arrow was aligned with her bow in her hand instantaneously, but Tai already had Cato in some sort of headlock that the male from District 2 also and occasionally specialized in. "Shoot and he goes down with me," Tai laughed manically, jerking Cato's head by roughly pulling the tips of his dark blonde hair. His invalid leg was bent awkwardly at being forced to stand.

As a last minute effort, Cato raised his fingers to Tai's arm instead of trying to push the other boy off or wresting his way free because the boy from District 4 was equal to him in height and build. While Tai was sprouting some nonsense about winning to bring glorious honor to his fishing district, Cato's forefinger veered off and made a deliberate 'X' on the back of Tai's hand. Katniss could see that Tai has realized the implication of the small gesture only a second later than she did by the way his winning smile slipped away from his discolored features.

It doesn't really matter anyway because before Tai could do anything about it, Katniss' fletched arrow was already striking his flesh. He reflexively cried out, releasing Cato, who slammed back against him in retaliation. For a moment, it looked as though both boys were going to fall off the lip of the horn. Cato gave Tai another hard push with his shoulder, almost falling to the ground below with the other male had it not been for Katniss catching hold of Cato before he had a chance to lose his footing over the edge.

She naturally wrapped his arms around his waist, silently prodding him to lean on her as they watched Tai barbarically get eaten alive by the lizard muttations. This was the climax of this year's Hunger Games, the moment that everyone has been waiting for, so of course they wanted a good show. But no matter how much she hated Tai at the moment, his agonizing screams bothered her greatly.

"Make it count," Cato spoke from beside her, pulling up the hood of her jacket when icy wind broke across the plains. He already understood what she was thinking, just by the expression on her face.

By Tai's fifth _please_, Katniss aimed another arrow at his skull.

"Did you get him?" he murmured questioningly.

The fire of a cannon was his eventual answer.

Now the real terror of the Games began—it was just the two of them left.

Katniss' head snapped to the side when the male beside her whispered her name.

A befuddled expression came across her facial features when _sexybeautiful_sadistic_gorgeous_ Cato cupped her face with a certain tenderness she hadn't known he was capable of. All tangible thoughts were erased the moment, the moment Cato pulled at her with raw yearning that would have been foreign to any Career of District 2, their bodies crushing and molding together in accompaniment of the adamantine impact. His lips collided with hers, needing and tasting what he had infinitely longed for all this time, all but sweetly devouring her delectable little mouth.

Cato could almost hear the loud and shocked gasps of the Capitol's audience, almost forgetting the fact that their little intimate encounter was being processed on live television. They must have been wondered why a cold-blooded Career such as himself would honestly care for tribute of another district, why he had stuck with her all this time throughout the Hunger Games. This just had to be the answer to all their questions. Who knew that a heartless killing machine such as him was capable of loving a girl?

"Bet you that kiss was long overdue," Katniss managed out when they finally parted, rueful smile playing at her lips.

"Agreed," he instinctively pulled her in closer, pulling open the flaps of his jacket so that she could slip in. His eyes narrowed at another brush of the bitter cold winds. "Are they trying to freeze us to death?"

"That would be better than forcing us to kill each other." After muttering that aloud, Katniss ripped the quiver of arrows away from her back and threw it, along with the long bow, aside to the ground.

Cato froze, but not from the windy weather. "What are you doing?"

"I already told you from the beginning that I'm not going to kill you," Katniss responded elusively. "One of us has to win and I know what a big deal winning is to your district so—"

"I don't give a fuck about my district!" _You also promised you'd return to your sister._

Katniss tried to step away from him but that only prompted Cato to grip her even tighter. "Don't even _think_ for a second about leaving me," he hissed warmly into her ear. Even with the obvious hints of anger, she found it a bit romantic when he harshly declared, "I love you."

If the Capitol had been shocked before, they would be absolutely flabbergasted by now.

"Do you mean it?" her voice dropped into a conspiratorial whisper, avoiding the ears of the Capitol. "You're not just doing this for a good finale? Don't you dare lie to me."

"Yes." No second guesses. He _knows_ he loves her.

Katniss didn't exactly answer back audibly, but a large breathtaking smile stole her face right then. The gesture had his heart beating a hundred times faster than it already was, hating the feeling because not only has he never really felt like this before, the feeling leaves him disconcertingly vulnerable and weak, but he loved every second if it because he knew that she loved him back. _Him_. She didn't have to say it aloud because the answer was clearly written across her face.

Unable to contain himself, Cato leaned in and captured her mouth within his once more. He grinned broadly against her sweet lips, not giving a single shit that the whole world was watching an interaction that was preferably private. And thus, the title of star-crossed lovers was given to them.

"You have the absolute worst timing in the world," Katniss noted while her head rested against his neck.

"What if the Games didn't have any victors this year?" came another quiet whisper at her ear.

As if to explain himself, Cato rummaged through the pockets of his jacket until he held he held a huddle of small, black berries in his curled palm. "They're nightlock. You'll be dead before they reach your stomach."

"Are you sure you don't belong in the district that deals with agriculture?" Katniss passed him a shrewd glance.

Then, despite the dangerous circumstances struck at them—despite _everything_, Cato laughed.

"On the count of three?"

"Yeah," she agreed, leaning on her toes to give him one last kiss. "I love you."

Cato couldn't help but acknowledge the fact that his heart swelled with happiness when she actually repeated the statement with her own strong voice. Hearing her say it made everything surreal to him. There could be no possible better ending to this after what she said.

She squeezed their locked hands together tight before spreading the dark berries out against the sun that had just appeared on the horizon as an artificial product of the Gamemakers. _One._ For some unexplainable reason, Cato's countdown sounded clear in her mind. Without a victor, this whole thing would blow up in the Gamemakers' faces. They would have failed the Capitol. _Two._ They might be slowly and painfully executed while cameras broadcasted it to every screen in the country. Or maybe they didn't care if the two last tributes died.

"Three!"

_Already?_

Nevertheless, both Cato and Katniss looked at each other for a split second before they pushed their hands to their waiting mouths, letting all of the berries fall into their caverns. But when the berries managed to pass Katniss' lips, the loud trumpets began to blare. Claudius Templesmith's voice was the last thing they expected to hear.

"_Ladies and gentleman, due to popular demand, I am pleased to present the victors of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games, Cato Nerva and Katniss Everdeen!" _

Immediately, Cato spewed out all the berries, wiping his tongue with his shirt to make sure that no juice remained. Not just one victor, but two? What were they playing at? He couldn't dwell on it as long as he would have liked because he really couldn't hear his own thoughts over the insanely loud roaring of the crowd in the Capitol that they were playing live over the speakers. It was explicably noisy enough to turn anyone deaf.

"Did you swallow any?" he asked Katniss.

The unexpected response he got was of the aforementioned girl from District 12 coughing heavily. Furrowing his brows at such a reply, he noticed that all her berries were spat and scattered about on the ground. So why was she coughing so badly?

As she continued to cough, horrid theories sprung up in his mind. A berry must have melted at her throat, the poising pooling there and not managing to make it down to her esophagus just yet, causing Cato to fear that in another few minutes or so, she would die because of one berry. _Because of him._ He didn't have any water to shove down her throat to wash away the building poison. When the hovercraft finally materialized overhead, he couldn't get Katniss up the latter fast enough. She was going to die—

And all because of him.

_To be continued..._

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><p><strong>Another AN: **Will there be a reunion next chapter...? Review please :)


	3. He Knew Her First: V

**A/N: **Thank you for all your lovely reviews (and don't forget to review for this last chapter) - So, after one full day of mulling this over, I've decided to make a sequel to this. However, instead of putting it under a new fic, I'm just going to add it to this one since I'm too lazy to go through the whole process of making a new one and waiting 4-8 hours for it to upload. This is _not _the last chapter of the whole fic, but the last chapter to the first part of it.

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><p><strong>(V.)<strong>_  
>They ruthlessly ripped her away from him. He had only blinked once to find that his arms were empty. Like a rabid animal, he found himself caged behind a wall of thick glass, watching as they operated on her throat. <em>

_Katniss was frighteningly pale and still upon the silver table, tubes and wires of all sorts plunging from her neck in one way or another. God, they were sucking the life out of her. Forgetting the fact that they were already out of the Games, he saw the numerous masked and gloved doctors in sterile white as one more threat, one more pack of muttations designed and fully produced to kill him. He pounded hard on the glass, resorting to hurling his frame at it while ignoring the searing pain on his leg. _

_damn it Katniss I'm so sorry I should have never given those berries to you they won't let me be near you I didn't mean to do this to you these fucking idiots won't let me protect you won't let me _love_ you—_

For the first time since the middle of the Games, Cato woke up without her by his side.

Something sharp and antiseptic attacked his nose the moment he opened his eyes to blindingly white lights. He was only vaguely aware of the fact that he was clean, that his scars and burns were less prominent, that the bite on his leg was completely healed. Even though there was a wide restraining band across his waist to keep him confined, judging by his less than tolerable, recent behavior, Cato doesn't fight against it this time.

He was very certain that they killed her. She was already poisoned to begin with so that simple fact must have sped the death faster. He could only assume that the Gamemakers were pissed off, unable to accept taking his choice of the nightlock berries so they lied to the public and killed his Katniss behind the curtains. It didn't matter what they thought of him now because once this was all done and over with, he was going to find some way to kill himself.

Cato let Pisces, his escort, sob at how happy she was to see him alive before her. He let all his stylists coo over at how healthy and ever-so-handsome he was now and that the troubles of the Games had not tainted his looks. He let his over-enthusiased and over-indulgent prep team dress him up one last time, donning him in a light blue dress shirt that was sure to make his eyes pop and shine, black slacks to accentuate his long legs, and a pair of black dress shoes that gleamed under the lights. With two top buttons left open, he looked as though the Hunger Games had never happened to him.

But it did happen and he was _never_ going to forget it.

"You're in deep shit, kid."

Brutus pretended to straighten the collar of Cato's dress shirt. "There's been rumors—all of them circulating around the fact that the Capitol is furious with the act you pulled out on the arena. They don't like being showed up and they _especially _don't like being the living joke of all Panem."

"So?" Cato couldn't help but snap back.

He really didn't need this shit right now…

"You were so madly in love that you weren't responsible for your actions," Brutus replied in a tone that could have been composed of cold steel and metal. "The thought of living without Katniss was simply unthinkable. You can't stand living a day without her by your side. Got it, kid?"

"There's no need for a backup story," Cato practically growled in his mentor's face. "Considering everything you just stated was all true."

What was the point of a backup story anyway? Katniss was already…_dead_…so he really didn't have to explain his actions to the idiotic public. Why bother explaining to a group of people whose collective IQ was less than the fingers on his hand?

The anthem boomed in unwelcomingly in Cato's ears before he heard the familiarity of Caesar Flickerman's voice greeting everyone in the audience. The man's voice alone caused the seventeen year old male to recall the last time he was interviewed by Caesar. He had won the crowd with his charming, yet slightly cocky persona. They had all loved him. Where was that same boy now?

When he heard his name being called out, he tried not to be too statuesque when he greeted Caesar and shook his hand in front of the whole of Panem. The cheers from the citizens of the Capitol were overwhelmingly powerful, forcing him to manage out a small smile. This notion, however, only seems to surmount the cheers and applause.

"Ah, Cato," he started out with genuine pleasantry, "You seem distracted. Are you expecting someone?"

His icy blue eyes had dulled just slightly. "Yes. I was hoping she'd be here with me," he answered back emptily, fighting hard not to look weak while this was telecasted live for all to see. _Don't you fucking _dare_ cry, Cato. _

Caesar grinned mischievously at this. "Well, let's not torture the poor boy any longer! Please give a warm welcome to our second victor, Katniss Everdeen!"

_What—_

Cato's head had swiveled around so quickly, he thought he had broken a small bone in his neck. The hallucination before him was a wondrous sight to behold. Katniss looked stunningly beautiful—_she always did_—in a sleeveless, high-neckline dress that was covered in pristine whiteness. The bodice was a decoratively-embroidered white lace with a chiffon tapered skirt that ended just a few inches above her knees. A thin red ribbon was slung across her waistline to contrast the colors between the hues of the fabrics.

It had taken two full minutes for Cato to realize that she was not some sort of hallucination, that she was not some figment of his imagination that was there to utterly torture him, before he headily strode towards Katniss with a certain purpose and automatically enfolded her in a voracious embrace. He felt her hands reach to rub at the muscles on his back before he swooped down and gave her a smoldering, toe-curling kiss. Ignoring the magnitude of the audience's raucous cheers, he picked her off the ground with viable easiness for better access to her mouth, letting her feet dangle a couple inches from the floor.

Too deeply and deliriously happy, he even twirled her around to match the crescendo of the Capitol's audience's jovial merriment. After a pleasing amount of spins, he reluctantly placed her back on her feet, their initial kiss dwindling by fractions as he relaxed his vice-like clasp on her. Caesar had laughingly tried to pry the two apart, but Cato had waved him aside with one hand.

Katniss leaned in and touched her nose to the long column of his neck, taking a whiff of his clean scent. In return for the close comfort, he placed a gentle kiss atop the crown of her head before resting his cheek there, fully convinced that he would be the happiest person alive if he was never removed from this skinny girl in his arms again.

"Now, now you two," Caesar told them with a wink, obviously happy at their joining. "We'll have more time for that later."

_Go away_, Cato thought vaguely.

The thought of letting her go for the slightest second was unimaginable to Cato. With an act that spurred an ecstatic uproar from the Capitol's audience, he picked Katniss up like a new bride, carrying her to the ornate love seat that had replaced the single chair for a normal single victor. The crowd had grown absolutely wild the moment he pulled her onto his lap instead of letting her sit upon the plushy seat by herself, draping her pale legs over his knees as his arms snaked snugly around her waist.

Caesar grinned as he took the chair next to them. "How adorable are these two? Katniss, I think you look quite comfortable where you are. And here I was about to show you to your seat!"

_There's no nowhere I'd rather be honestly. _"Very comfortable. Thank you, Caesar."

"Now, as I understand it, you two haven't seen each other since the Games ended, is that correct?"

Cato nodded his head, schooling his features once more. "I had thought she died." God, even saying that—let alone thinking it out loud—was nearly unbearable.

Of course, the audience crooned pityingly at his statement.

The indication of the worst part of the Hunger Games, or so Katniss thought, is exemplified when the lights around the large room started to dim and the screens hum with technological life. Cato must have felt her entire body stiffen for he had pressed a soothing, open-mouthed kiss against the back of her neck, his fingers stroking steadily at her dress-clad hipbones. Sighing at the thought of having to relive twenty-two deaths of mere children with the whole nation, her hands sought to clamp around the strong arm that was slung around her waist as she finally leaned back against him.

Everyone's life was at stake if they couldn't pull this off. If they didn't believe that they were the star-crossed lovers from two diversely different districts. Her mother's life was already endangered, and so were Gale's, Cinna's, Haymitch's, and Prim's, and, of course, not to mention Cato and his family. None of this should matter because there was no question or doubt to their love. This hadn't been an act to win sponsors and to win the public's heart. She and Cato _did_ love each other with everything they had. It was just all a matter of fact on whether or not President Snow found it believable.

"I really thought you were gone," Cato whispered delicately in her ear. There was a hint of tired wariness to his tone that struck something, an emotional chord perhaps, inside Katniss very deeply.

Katniss shook her head conspicuously. "They just wanted our reunion live on air."

"Those sick bastards."

"Yes," Katniss agreed full heartedly, cursing them for making Cato think she had been dead all this time. The undeniable urge to shred them all to bloody pieces had never been so desirous until now.

For the first time in Hunger Games history, the recap of the event is portrayed as a doomed love story than the typical tribute's struggle towards victory. Although there are many wide screens to capture all the angles of the Games, the two victors of this year particularly noticed the way the show kept alternating shots of tributes dying to either Cato or Katniss on the next shot. The cameras had strained on the duo for the majority of the time from the very moment the male from District 2 picked up Katniss and ran off with her whilst dodging the dagger Tai threw at him.

Katniss covering Peeta with wild flowers, Cato being the first Career to ever ditch his alliance for an outer district girl, and both rather opting to eat poisonous berries than kill one another—everything they did was a telltale sign of rebellion, even it all of it had been unintentional.

If Cato had noticed the way Katniss was squeezing the very life out of his left arm, he certainly didn't say anything about it.

After the crowning ceremony, the two victors were whisked away to President Snow's giant mansion for the customary Victory Banquet. However, both were momentarily stunned when the Peacekeepers led them to one of the tea rooms instead of the massive hall where all the banquets in the past were held.

The overwhelming smell of genetically enhanced roses colliding with the distinct scent of copper had Katniss reeling almost slightly back against her heels. It was the reassuring pressure of Cato's hand around hers that keep her from either retching or walking right back out of the room. Despite her bodily reactions, her metallic eyes meet the president's snake-like ones coolly as he beckoned the pair of teenagers further into the room, particular to the couch seated across him, with a wave of his hand.

"I must congratulate on your victories," Snow smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Let me say that Panem has never had a conjoint victory before."

Cato fought the urge to narrow his icy eyes. "There's always a first time."

Thankfully, Snow took no notice of the younger male's demeanor. "I'm sure you two must be very happy with the outcome."

"We are." Katniss internally thanked whatever force out there that helped her keep her voice steady.

"Are you now? I'm not sure I'm exactly convinced."

He was going to punish them, in whatever shape of form he deemed possible. It was because of those nightlock berries, which had somehow become a symbol of a rebellion. How could such a thin and small man wield so much power?

"Whatever you saw during the Games was real, _sir_," Cato couldn't help but put in mockingly. The gentle squeeze he received from Katniss warned him that was a bad time for this. _Just because you don't have any real emotions doesn't mean the rest of the world don't have them either, dickhead._ "Other than that, we don't know any other way how to convince you."

A true smile spread across Snow's face this time. "Rest assured, my dear boy," he murmured soothingly, as though that statement was fit enough to wash away all their worries when it was doing the exact opposite. "I know _exactly_ the way. I'm sure the both of you will be quite pleased with the solution I've come up with."

_Every action has its consequences—_

Breathe, Katniss, breathe. "What are they, sir?"

"I am going to film you two making love to each other," Snow told them as though he was talking about the weather, unaffected at how both Cato and Katniss' faces had visibly paled at the idea. "Think of it as a way of me allowing you two to express your dual love to each other. I will then sell viewing rights of the tape to the highest bidder," the conniving president added with an indulgent smile that should have come across as a sneer.

At the two victors' lack of responses, Snow continued amicably. "You see, the citizens of the Capitol are—how do I say this— _invested_ in you two as a couple. It would make me an amplitude amount of more money than auctioning the pair of you off separately. You start tonight."

"Start?" Katniss managed to croak out.

"Oh, this won't be a one-time deal, Katniss," Snow practically beamed at the girl's apprehensive state. "This business will progress _much_ longer than that."

This was all fucking _business_?

"We live in two different districts—"

"Which can quickly be rearranged, Cato," Snow spoke to the boy who just verbally burst out. "I'll see to it that all your things be relocated to one of the houses in the Victors' Village in District 12 so that you would be able to live _happily_ with dear Katniss. Those conditions are much more convenient for the Victory Tour anyhow, and by living together, I would be able to film you two regularly."

Regularly.

Might as well just say: "Welcome to the world of forced pornography."

"You will agree to these terms, yes?" Snow prodded on.

Of course they would—they had no choice but to abide by his rules and expectations. If not, the lives of their respective families were at stake until Snow got what he wanted. For many, many years now, it was an unspoken rule that President Snow _always_ got what he wanted.

"Yes," Katniss was the first to quietly acquiesce.

Cato wanted to take the flowered vase that sat on the table that separated the president and the two victors and just repeatedly bash it against Snow's face until he bled all over the carpet. "Yes," he gritted through his teeth instead.

"Very good." Snow stood up and rearranged his tie, as though done with a strenuous business meeting. "Well, I'll leave some time for you two to be alone. Although, I'd advise you make your way to the banquet quickly afterward. I hear the blueberry pie is simply delicious."

President Snow excused himself out of the tea room after that.

The male from District 2 sprung up from the couch, pacing every inch of the room as his fingers dug through the short strands of his blonde hair and roughly pulled at them, daring to rip each tendril apart. Not forgetting the fact that they were still in the president's abode, his muffled roar came out as a strangled growl.

Call him selfish but death would have been a better fate than this. At least when they died, they would have left this completely fucked up world together and wouldn't have to worry about anything at all every again. Cato should have never brought out those damned fatal berries; he should have never brought Katniss into this. The berries were _his_ idea. Why in the hell should Katniss, the same girl he vowed to protect for the rest of his life as long as he still drew breath, be punished for what _he_ suggested?

Snow was penalizing them because the Hunger Games never had two victors before.

"_There's been rumors—all of them circulating around the fact that the Capitol is furious on the act you pulled out on the arena. They don't like being showed up and they _especially_ don't like being the living joke of all Panem." _

"Fuck!"

Katniss snapped out of the daze at the male's loud expletive. "Cato?"

The aforementioned boy kicked at a chair in the room. "Fuck _everything_!" One more kick and the chair would be blown to little bits and pieces.

"Cato," she repeated, this time more firmly. Before Cato aimed another kick and was close to destroying the furniture, she sprinted across the room and snaked her arms around his waist. She could feel him trying to pry her off, but that only prompted her to hold onto him tighter until he eventually gave in.

His sudden and dejected slump of his broad shoulders indicated that he gave up. Cursing more quietly, Cato wrapped his arms around Katniss and returned the embrace, his hands pressing against the small of her back tightly as he burrowed his face into the crook of neck, taking deep and steady inhalations of her sweet scent. Her small hands had strayed into his hair, smoothing back his tousled hair—an outcome of his almost dangerous hair pulling—in a comforting manner as his entire large body shook with abated rage.

"They won't see an inch of you," he murmured as to console her, although he really sounded as though he was soothing himself. "My body's large enough to cover you underneath so the fucking camera will only see me." He didn't want to share her with the rest of the world.

Katniss placed a soft kiss against his cheek. "I really doubt he'll only use one camera." Once she felt Cato's body stiffen at her remark, she rested the side of her head against his solid chest. "I don't regret anything, Cato."

"Nothing?" Cato chuckled bitterly, absentmindedly twirling a strand of her raven hair between his fingers. "You wished you hadn't died instead?"

"No."

Her response caused him to sigh heavily as he parted a bit just to touch his forehead against hers. Of course, the life of a victor would always be different from what it had been before. Yet when Cato volunteered all those weeks ago, he didn't imagine his life would change like this. He never expected filmed obscenity to be his future.

"I love you," Katniss whispered in his ear.

Even at a dire time like this, she still managed a beautiful smile, warming Cato's heart instantly._ Don't you know what you do to me, Katniss?_ Meeting her halfway, Cato touched her lips in the softest, gentlest of kisses ever produced by his mouth. It was merely a simple brush of the lips, but for some reason, it warmed Cato all over. It felt much, much lighter than the tickle of a stray feather, but it was indeed a most precious kiss.

"We should go," Katniss quirked her head towards the door, removing herself from him all at once except for their joined hands. "I'm sure they're all waiting for us."

Against his better judgment, Cato let a ghost of a smirk grace his face. "Who gives a fuck?"

"There's the Cato we all know and love," Katniss replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Albeit the tone, the true affection she had for him was still there and the foreshadowing of the unwanted events did not escape her mind.

_just walk out that door and our lives would change for the worst—_

"Alright, let's go," he tangled their fingers even more before kissing her forehead.

Katniss held onto his hand tightly, preparing for the onslaught of cameras, the Capitol officials, and the generous sponsors who were all eager to get a piece of the inter-district lovers. It was the _I love you_ that radiated from Cato's ever blue irises that kept her in place.

She refused to let go of his hand.

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><p><strong>end of part one**


	4. For Whom the Bell Tolls: I and II

**A/N: **As you can obviously tell, this is the sequel. It doesn't say what Katniss' mother's name was in any of the books (I checked online as well) so I just made on up for her. If she really does have a name, I'd appreciate it if someone told me. Other than that, enjoy and review.

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><p><strong>For Whom the Bell Tolls<strong>

**(I.)  
><strong>For many years now, Katniss had always found a reason to be furious with her mother.

There was always this deep ounce of resentment she felt for the woman who gave birth to her for letting herself succumb to the extreme depression after her melodic husband died in the fated mining accident. The whole ordeal had forced Katniss to become the head of the family, forcing herself to grow up when she still had a handful of years left to live as a child. Since her mother's life seemed to flee along with her father's, Katniss had unorthodoxly taken the role of mother to Prim all the while Dahlia Everdeen's living soul edged away each day.

Her mother was slowly starting to revert back to life, especially after the selfless act Katniss had pulled at last year's Reaping, sacrificing herself for Prim. _You can't leave again_ and _Don't you dare tune out and leave Prim on her own_ had been her final words to her mother before she left for the Games. Despite the gravity of the situation then on, she still couldn't forgive her mother for her past acts. For all that was worth, Dahlia didn't _deserve_ forgiveness. Whatever relationship she had with the older woman had been severed the day her father left this earth.

She had been so naïve. _Her._ Katniss couldn't have understood what her mother was going through because she had never embraced the arms of overwhelming love before.

Tenderly stroking the arm that was coiled securely at her bare waist, Katniss finally understood. Looking at the simply gorgeous male whose body was curled so warmly around her own, she couldn't bear the thought of losing Cato ever. If something suddenly happened to Cato the way her father had been abruptly taken away from her mother's life, then Katniss was sure she would be reduced to a mental Avox because the boy from District 2 meant that much to her. Not only would she stop talking, she would stop thinking, stop moving—stop _breathing_ for that matter.

Undertaking this special point of view, Katniss was currently in the process of trying to fix the remnants of the mother-daughter relationship she once had with Dahlia. This including being dependent on her more often than not, as well as actually returning her hugs than merely tolerating them. It was time to stop punishing her for something she couldn't help with because she hadn't been equipped to deal with it at the time.

"Morning," Katniss murmured when she felt a noticeable shift beside her.

All she received was a noncommittal grunt before a nose was pressed alongside her throat, a blonde head nuzzling the slender pillar of her neck. A pair of lips briefly brushed across the expanse of her neck. For a slight moment or two, a drowsy eye opened, revealing the icy blue hue concealed behind it. He stared at her breasts, his eyebrows furrowing at the way they were almost completely exposed to wherever Snow was hiding those cameras before his hand unsubtly grabbed the blanket and pulled it over until it covered Katniss' entire body from neck down.

The girl bit down her lip, resisting the urge to laugh at his antics. "Snow's already seen everything, Cato."

Upon receiving another incomprehensible growl, Katniss dryly remarked, "I know this may seem hard to you, but would you mind talking in a way that doesn't involve grunting and snarling like a caveman?"

"It's too damn _early_ for this, Katniss."

"What was that?" she countered back smartly. "I couldn't hear you past all the grumbling."

Despite how early it truly was, it didn't hinder Cato's fast reflexes.

Katniss had barely managed out the end of her last statement before Cato pounced on her, his lips colliding with hers in a silent way to effectively shut her up. As his tongue slipped past the entrance of her smooth lips and twirled around hers, he moved to hover atop her body, careful enough to hide all of her as much as he could. Of course, Katniss had tried to get him to stop every time he did this, which was literally every time, yet he ignored her requests, despite how fruitless his attempts really were at obscuring Katniss from the Capitol's prying eyes.

"They're all coming at noon," she reminded, pulling away from his lips languidly.

And just like that, Cato's momentary aggression had deflated like a balloon. "Great. More humiliation," he muttered under his breath, keeping Katniss' body compressed tightly against his as he rolled the two of them over on the large bed, finding themselves switching places with his back lying flat on the mattress and Katniss resting atop him. "What's the use of them coming here anyway?" He grimaced upon thinking about his dreadfully zealous prep team.

"To make us look pretty."

"As if we couldn't do that ourselves?" he threw back astutely.

"Apparently not." A thoughtful expression crossed over Katniss' face as she mulled it over. Leaning over the bedside table to check the time, she frowned before gradually pushing herself away from him. "C'mon, get up."

It was time to stare down into the faces of all the families of the children they had killed.

_any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind—_

"I hate earmuffs."

It was a well-known fact that Katniss was a natural beauty, which was why Cato was glad he could recognize her face after noticing that there wasn't much make-up on her face, other than this black thick _stuff_ that was coated on her eyelashes—whatever the hell it was actually called—to make them look longer. Not only did it lengthen her eyelashes, it also made her grey orbs look larger than usual, surely drawing his imminent attention to her delicate face.

"At least it matches your scarf," Cato grinned cheekily, his hand reaching to finger the bright red scarf that was wound around her neck.

Katniss elbowed him sharply, not mindful at all of the cameras that were around the train station. "Shut up."

"Hello, Catnip."

Frozen at the familiar voice, she turned slightly and stared into the eyes of Gale Hawthorne. She watched silently as Gale slowly took in the vision of the calloused hand holding onto her scarf while the other touched at her cheek lightly, following the owner of those hands to meet up with Cato's mask of indifference. As he fixated the larger, blonde boy with a steely glare of his own, Katniss tried not to notice they way Gale's nostrils flared a bit, a true indication of his anger.

Gritting the rows of her teeth against each other, Katniss refused to let her chagrin surface in plain public at whom she considered to be her best friend until now. Gale was an absolute and irrevocably hypocrite. How dare he get mad at something that wasn't worth getting angry over? Sure, he may not have liked Cato very much over the years, and he never failed to show that animosity when Cato came to visit her either, but he had no right in expressing any terms of enmity after what he had done.

Gale, her supposed best friend, had completely disregarded her entire existence after she returned from the Games. She could understand his distance from the obligatory celebrations and the victory banquets she was forced to participate in as a victor, but that didn't explain for the rest of the year. She had tried coming over to Gale's house on several occasions, but she came there only to find Hazelle telling her that he was unavailable. And just like that, the tradition of illegal poaching on Sundays with Gale flew right out the window.

And their friendship might have tagged along with it.

"Do you mind?" Gale snapped, his eyes narrowing at the other male.

Cato's jaw worked at the cold treatment, but he should have been used to it by now. Before complying to the order, he pulled Katniss flushed against his body, crushing her lips with his in a blatant show in front of the Seam boy. As his tongue began to run along the edges of her mouth demurely, an eye opened to see that Gale's hands were fisted to the color of pure white by his sides as if they were itching to punch Cato right then and there.

Smirking, he suckled along Katniss' bottom lip, making sure Gale saw every minute of it before he stalked away in the imposing and lazy gait he possessed. _Take that, bitch._

"Well?" Katniss folded her arms across her chest, her eyebrow lifting as she waited.

"You're…pissed off."

"Oh no, Gale. Can't you see the sheer happiness that's radiating from my face?"

The corner of his lips turned upwards by an inch. "You do look radiating by the way."

Katniss rolled her eyes, being one of the few girls in District 12 that were unaffected by Gale's charms. "What do you want, Gale? I've been under the impression that you hadn't wanted to associate with me—"

"Is it true?" Gale suddenly demanded, taking a step closer to her than was necessary. "You and Cato—is it all just an act? If it was, you can cut it out, Katniss. The Games are over, the sponsors have supported you all the way, and you're a victor now. You're alive so you can stop this whole 'inter-district lovers' thing right now."

An incredulous laughed surged up Katniss' throat. "Are you _fucking_ kidding me?" She was never known to say many expletives in her lifetime, but Cato had been a large influence over the past year. Even Gale was dumbfounded to hear the curse fly out of her mouth like that, more so than she was. "That's what you're mad at? You think I'm pretending to be in love with Cato for _publicity_?"

Gale looked nonplussed. "Aren't you?"

"You _idiot_," Katniss hissed. "Think I'm that shallow, don't you?"

"Katniss—"

"I'm in love with Cato," she declared seethingly to the dark-haired boy, missing the way his facial expression dropped south at her little announcement. She really couldn't care less of what Gale thought of her now because the fact that she loved the boy from District 2 was the honest to God truth. "And it's possible that I've been in love with him even before the Games. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a train to catch." With that said, she whirled around on the heels of her feet.

To think that Katniss had once been the girl who knew deep down that she would never marry anyone, that she would never produce children to start a family. The female who had once loudly scoffed at the idea of being in love seemed so far away now, almost like a distant memory to her.

One moment she had been striding away from Gale and the next moment, she had been swiftly spun around to find that a pair of lips was already latched onto hers. Only two thoughts were able to process through her mind during this odd encounter. One—that these lips were not what she expected Gale Hawthorne's lips to feel like. And two—that these lips were definitely not _Cato's_. She was just about to shove him roughly away when—

"_Get your fucking hands off her!" _

Gale barely had time to register the furious scream before he was violently ripped away from her. The object of his affections had turned around, gazing at him contemptuously before her skinny form was hidden by a much taller and formidable figure. He found himself temporarily staring into those icy blue-hued eyes he had come to loathe in his adolescent years before his face snapped to the side in the onslaught of a hard fist impacting brutally upon his cheek.

The force of the punch caught him by surprise, wrenching his feet off the ground as his body was thrown to the floor. He licked his lips instinctively, tasting the bitter essence of copper that pooled around the corner of his jaw. Gale instinctively spat the blood out of his mouth before looking into the brilliant anger that was Cato Nerva's eyes.

He was unceremoniously jerked forward by the collar of his shirt. "Touch her again and I will _murder_ you," Cato snarled right in his face and it is not a fake threat because Gale has seen the way the blonde boy has killed before and it was certainly never a pretty sight. It doesn't take a genius to know that his threats were no goddamn joke.

Aware of the cameras that were flashing brightly from all around the station, Katniss tugged on Cato's arm. "Just leave him there," she uselessly tried pulling on his arm, already knowing that Cato wouldn't budge an inch.

"He touched you—"

"And I'm fine," Katniss quickly reassured him before managing to pry his fingers off of Gale. Rubbing her hands up his hardened forearms, she let Cato breathe and regain what normalcy he had left in him. "Let's just go, Cato. We're already late as it is."

Gale watched in dehumanizing agony as the love of his life pulled this sadistic monster of a human being away from him, not before receiving and acknowledging the piercing look of pure hatred sent by Cato. Swallowing his throat tightly at the sight of their intertwined hands, he could do nothing but continue to watch as Effie and Pisces hurriedly pushed the two lovers into one of the compartments of the train.

**(II.)  
><strong>"_Each day it's the same. Wake up. Get dressed. Ride through cheering crowds. Listen to a speech in our honor. Give a thank-you speech in return, but only the one the Capitol gave us, never any personal additions now. Sometimes a brief tour: a glimpse of the sea in one district, towering forests in another, ugly factories, fields of wheat, stinking refineries. Dress in evening clothes. Attend dinner. Train." _(71, CF)

The entire Victory Tour was her own personal kind of hell.

She was too glad that it was over. Looking at all the sorrowful, vengeful families in each district had been enough, but to torture them even more, they were supposed to treat the event like another form of festivities. Because to the Capitol, that was what death was to them—an endless cycle of jovial affairs.

There were whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol, and Cato's nightlock berries may have sparked them. There was already an uprising in District 8 and there was also a morbid possibility that District 8 might end up exactly like District 13 by the time the uprising was over. Killing off yet another example would only prove the Capitol's ultimate power and the dictator of the president who led it.

Curled up against Cato on the couch, Katniss instinctively turned around to peer into the kitchen from her unobstructed view from where she sat in the large living room. She stared towards the corner of the ceiling, where a mediocre light bulb sat. It wasn't like all the other normal lights in the kitchen; this one flashed red instead of white, and every time it flashed, a soundly beeping noise would accompany the crimson flickering of light. It controlled the nights she shared with Cato, and sometimes the days, because the noisy light was Snow's special alarm of silently commanding them to go into their shared bedroom to do this so-called 'business' so that he could film it all on tape.

The average was at least four times a week. It wasn't as though Katniss hated it—far from it actually—since the District 2 male had a certain way of making her forget that there was a camera in the first place while in the act, but as soon as the morning time rolled around, she would then remember that Snow and the rest of the rich and repulsive citizens of the Capitol were watching, or would soon be watching after they paid for it. She relaxed once more when she realized the light wasn't blinking at this time and hour.

"_That's right, this year will be the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Hunger Games, and that means it's time for our third Quarter Quell!" _

They had all been watching an encore of the interview Katniss and Cato had done with Caesar before the celebratory banquet at the Capitol at the end of the tour. The media's been playing this interview over and over so many times just by public request because everyone thought the inter-district lovers were oh-so-adorable. The labeling of the cutesy factor of them being a couple was enough to get Cato irked beyond belief.

"What will they do?" Prim asked curiously. "It isn't for months yet."

Dahlia's expression is distant, as if she was forced to remember something. "It must be the reading of the card."

Katniss tilted her head at her mother's words. "Reading?"

"To find out what this year's Quarter Quell is going to be like," Cato is the one who eventually answered her. "Snow's going to start off reminding us about the twenty-fifth and the fiftieth anniversaries before reading this year's event off a card."

"How do you know that?"

Cato shrugged carelessly. "Part of my training, I suppose."

Career training—she had forgotten about that.

The anthem played loudly out from the television screen, followed by President Snow and a young boy dressed in a white suit, and Cato must have somehow sensed Katniss' discomfort as returned the feeling by lightly placing his palm against her thigh and squeezed it abruptly, directed at an angle that even Dahlia couldn't have seen from where she was seated. She repeatedly and mentally told herself that this was neither the time nor place to be chortling, right when the Quarter Quell was to be announced. She kicked at the male's leg once he saw the corner of his lips turn upwards in a small smirk.

"_On the twenty-fifth anniversary,"_ Snow said, proving that Cato had been right, _"as a reminder to the rebels that their children were dying because of their choice to initiate violence, every district was made to hold an election and vote on the tributes who would represent it." _

"I remember that year," Cato suddenly recalled the event. "That was the year wh—"

"How can you remember it?" Katniss blurted out incredulously. "You weren't even alive then."

Cato glared at her with mild annoyance. "If you would let me finish," he muttered pointedly, and Katniss could hear Prim's amused giggle in the background. "That was the year where all the Careers died after the very first day, considering they had a bloodbath of their own. Every Career in my district was forced to watch a recap of it to make sure that we didn't make the same mistake."

All Careers dying after the first day? That was a first. Katniss almost found that hard to believe.

"_Oh the fiftieth anniversary, as a reminder that two rebels died for each Capitol citizen, every district was required to send twice as many tributes." _That was Haymitch's year.

Her mother spoke so quietly, Katniss nearly missed the first part of her sentence. "I had a friend who went that year," the older woman averted her gaze from the screen. "Maysilee Donner. Her parents owned the sweet shop. They gave me her songbird after. A canary." She could tell that Dahlia wanted to say more on the subject, but her mother held it off.

"_And now we honor our third Quarter Quell,"_ the president finally announced.

The quiet calm before the storm.

_and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls—_

Katniss' stomach churned in anxiety as she watched the little boy step up, holding a box with a century's worth of tidy, upright rows of yellowed envelopes that had been and would still be authorizing every Quarter Quell. She narrowed her cinereal eyes, her irises gleaming silver when Snow removed the enveloped marked with a visible '75'. Pressing her tongue against the inside of her cheek out of agitation, her fingers unconsciously reached to hold onto the sleeve of Cato's shirt as she continued to glare at their president.

She swore she saw an inhuman smile flit across Snow's face as he read from the card. _"On the seventy-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol, the male and female tributes will be reaped from their existing victors."_

Dahlia gave off a faint shriek.

Her younger sister buried her face into her hands.

Cato immediately jolted from the couch and was striding out of the living room before Katniss could even blink. His unruly exit is followed by a door slamming boisterously against the frame of the one of the many spare bedrooms in the house, surely rattling the door hinges. Training her ears just slightly, she could hear the sounds of tables being flung all over the place, curtains being ripped apart to shreds, and vases being shattered against the walls. The ear-splitting howl that was emancipated from the eighteen year old male seemed to shake Katniss from her short daze.

And then it finally dawned onto Katniss that she was the only living female victor to choose from. So was Haymitch for the males. It was clearly inevitable that she was going back into the arena.

_It tolls for thee. _

_To be continued...  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Another AN: **Review or I shall be inclined to delay the updates...pretty please review?


	5. For Whom the Bell Tolls: III and IV

**(III.)  
><strong>Pale cerulean eyes narrowed marginally.

"Again."

Under the sultry sun, clear and tiny beads of sweat have started coating noticeably on that luminescent skin of hers and being the hormonal boy he was, he couldn't help but realize at how that factor was rather a turn-on for him. It was entirely irrelevant to be thinking of this, but there was only one _other_ time Cato could make her sweat beatifically like this, but unfortunately, those preferably private moments have probably already been shared with the wealthier half of Panem, without true consent of the two people who played pivotal roles in them.

Cato could verily see the grand effort Katniss was putting into this training session by getting up onto her feet again, despite the fact that her whole body ached with exhaustion. An outstanding strength of the female was that she could bloody run fast as hell. Her lightweight body allowed her to be extraordinarily quick and nimble on her toes, but when faced in hand to hand combat, she was only great at dodging his blows. However, when Katniss couldn't quite avoid one of Cato's strikes, she went down hard and would have been considered dead had it been the actual Games.

This round went on for another ten minutes before Cato swung his fist, the edges of his knuckles grazing her cheek at mediocre speed and strength, so it wouldn't hurt her that hard again, but Katniss had been affected by it anyway. Keeping his arms tightly restrained by his side, he resisted the urge to catch her from falling into the ground yet again. He watched as she quietly fumed to herself, punching the ground in frustration before jumping to her feet once more.

"Again." It was Katniss who uttered the word this time instead of him—a word that was pretty much been the only verbal expression exchanged between the two since the early of this hot morning.

"Maybe we should take a break," Cato suggested only having observed that her breathing was more labored than it had been before they started.

"Careers don't take breaks," Katniss muttered pointedly under her breath.

The blonde male rolled his eyes. "That's because you're not a Career." A light purplish bruise started forming its way across her high cheekbone, allotting Cato to take notice before leaning in to kiss it tenderly. His hands came up to rub her at her forearms to relieve the tension concealed within them. "These things don't come right away, you know. It takes time."

Katniss was unsatisfied by his reassurance. "We don't have any time," she reminded him, crossing her arms. "The reaping's only two months away."

She was foolish to even remotely think that she wasn't terrified of the fact of going into the arena filled with previous victors of the Games. These competitors for the Quarter Quell weren't inexperienced children—these were all people who knew how to fight, who have used their hands to kill to get what they wanted, and who have done literally anything it took in order to survive. The chances of Katniss winning would be less likely now, even with her bow and arrow.

During their fighting session, Cato had been ruthlessly tough on her as Katniss expected him to be. He didn't pick her up every time she fell and he sure as hell didn't stop when it came to delivering magnificent blows to her body. She must have looked absolutely pathetic falling over so many times, but he had only murmured lowly at her to get up again to which she did at certain degrees of the grudging strength she had left in her.

Her darkened mood didn't stop the amused grin that made its way across Cato's face. "Just think of this as payback for yesterday."

"Payback?" she repeated with a loud scoff. "I only taught you how to climb a tree, which you _really_ needed help with."

"You left me on one of the branches without telling me how to get the fuck down from it!"

"It was only four feet, Cato," she countered back easily, secretly enjoying this light-hearted banter of theirs.

Cato shook his head adamantly, causing her to chuckle. "It was not four feet," he mumbled in a tone that was distinctive tone, trying to preserve what was left of his dignity. "The branch I was on had to be at least twelve feet above," he ignored the impish noise that came from Katniss. "And let's not forget that fact that I _fell off_ those shitty things while trying to climb up and you did nothing but laugh at me."

"I didn't lau—did I really?"

"Yes," he grumbled.

There was a small silence between them before Cato broke it. "Well?"

Katniss habitually raised an eyebrow. "Well, what?"

"Aren't you going to apologize?" he inquiried with a self-righteous grin.

"Cato, you are such a—" _complete moron_ had been what Katniss was about to say, but before she had the chance to spew the words out, Prim came running out to the backyard of their house, her abnormally pale face worrying Katniss immediately.

"What is it, Prim?" the older Everdeen girl demanded promptly.

The light-haired girl's quivering voice put a shaking leaf in the wind to shame. "President Snow is here." The simple words could do so much alone. Katniss' heart had skipped a beat while Cato had dropped the knife he had momentarily taken out to clean while the two sisters talked with a loud _clang_. "He wants to see the both of you."

There was nothing wrong with Cato's outward appearance, but Katniss however, thought herself to look quite indecent in front of the nation's ruler. With the first ounces of sweat that covered her skin, making some stray strands of her hair being plastered to her face, she would think that Snow wouldn't appreciate her well-being at the moment. It was a minute into these thoughts before Katniss frowned, wondering when the hell she started to care about her appearance.

Considering whatever President Snow had to say this time had a high chance of igniting Cato to destroy another one of the rooms in the house, she naturally slipped her hand into his, offering any form of support while she could. She received a light pressure in response, but his orbs were already in the transition of metamorphisizing into the eyes of a cold and angry monster who could wreck anything he touched without fail. Even Prim noticed the difference as she shifted in discomfort.

Katniss was already debilitated to begin with and the aroma of blended roses and blood made her even dizzier. A tight smile unwillingly graced her face as she entered the room with Cato, eyeing suspiciously at the sight of the thin man sitting next to an anxiety-ridden Dahlia. Her mother had been in the process of pouring tea into the china cups, which were assorted next to the tray of delicious sweets that only she could have produced. A sinister smile was brought to the president's face once he saw the two lovers, his smile chilling Katniss to the bone.

"Can I get you anything else?" Dahlia offered with quiet meekness. "I can cook something mores substantial if you're hungry, sir."

"No, this could not be any more perfect," Snow waved his hand, dismissing her. "Thank you."

Her mother passed her a fretting glance before exiting the door.

When President Snow poured the tea for the two newcomers, it was a clear invitation for them to sit down across from him, forced to relive the last meeting they had with the unpleasant man. A strained silence filled the air as Snow filled his tea with cream and sugar, taking his time to stir the contents around. Each stalling second was torturous. His reptilian eyes surveyed the room with a cursory glance, lifting the rim of the tea cup to his blood-filled mouth before finally taking a small, polite sip.

"I'm sure you two have heard of the uprising in District 8," was the first thing that came out of his poisonous mouth.

_poisonous because everything that comes out of his mouth can actually kill you like a snake with fangs—_

Katniss could hear the grinding of Cato's teeth. "We didn't mean to start any uprisings," his hard tone matched the colors of his eyes. "We aren't responsible for them either."

"I believe you."

"Then why are you here, _sir_?"

The black-haired female watched the two men's conversation with her grey eyes flickering back and forth, just waiting impatiently for the explosion that was close to blowing up. The president had crinkled his eyes at the corners, noticing the attitude he was receiving from the younger male narrowly while Cato was barely restraining in his bristling curtness. She wanted to tug at Cato's sleeve, but she refused to show him any more of their interactions. The sick bastard already saw enough for that matter.

President Snow leaned back against his seat casually. "I just wanted to personally applaud you for your work. Consider me fully convinced at your young, sweet love," he crooned with a twisted smile. There was really nothing to convince him in the first place, but neither wanted to verbally disagree.

"However," President Snow began again, and Katniss' spirits sunk a little lower than before, "despite the nation's obvious support for your love, the prospects of an aspiring rebellion cannot be ignored. Which is why I suggest we supply Panem with a little distraction."

Katniss' lips thinned in anticipation. "May I ask what this distraction may be?"

"Of course you may," Snow beamed with aberrant joy. "As you well know by now, you two are perhaps the most popular people in Panem right now, having surpassed even Finnick Odair by a considerable margin. The people of the Capitol have been fantasizing much about the two of you...including your future wedding."

Oh, _God_.

"You want us to get married?" Katniss had trouble regaining her breathing. _Married._ There was no doubt to her loving Cato but they were honestly too young for marriage. She was only seventeen for fuck's sake and Cato wasn't much older than that! The two of them were barely young adults, practically still _children_—

"How clever of you to figure that out, my dear Katniss," Snow murmured serenely. "Yes, I believe that a beautiful wedding between two lovers would prove to be the most fruitful of distractions to this country, wouldn't you agree?"

Silence. Absolute, goddamn, filtering silence.

President Snow frowned disapprovingly at the lack of responses. "May I remind you what would eventually happen should the two of you not agree?" The emphasized his point by reaching into coat pocket and throwing down numerous photos.

There were pictures of Cato's family—a pretty blonde woman, who's cheerful expression was omitted by the young blonde children that raced around her, presumably to be Cato's younger brother and sister that ran around his mother. There was a picture of Prim taking care of her goat and another of her playing with Buttercup in her own bedroom. There was one with her mother tending to the small gardens in the front of their new house. There was even one of Gale and his family.

What unnerved Katniss the most was the last picture she picked up. It was a photo of her and Cato nestled together under the shaded base of one of the trees in the forest, two pairs of eyes closed in blissful peace. The blonde boy's chest had become a makeshift pillow for her that day in the woods and it was unimpeded that they were only sleeping. But the fact that Snow had a _picture_ of this, that he was capable of knowing where they were every single minute of every day nearly shattered most of the resolve she had left in her.

Nothing was private anymore.

_It never was. _

"I'll ask again," Snow's voice broke her away from her thoughts. "Wouldn't you agree that your wedding would be a most excellent distraction?"

"Yes," Cato's voice sounded raspy, as though he had been screaming all this time.

She nodded stiffly afterward. "I agree."

"Such progress we are making," Snow hummed in manic delight. "You have approximately a month to get married. Because you two have been so _agreeing_, it will be fully endorsed by the Capitol, where the wedding and reception banquet will also take place. The choice of your date is purely up to the two of you, but I would prefer it if you chose a date before the reaping for this year's Quarter Quell. Am I in any way unclear?"

Katniss merely shook her head for the both she and Cato.

The white-hued president flashed another malignant-embedded smile before walking out of the room.

Would all their meetings with Snow have to end like this?

Clenching her hands tightly on her lap, she waited for the hazardous eruption that was bound to come. Just imagine her surprise when it never came. Stunned, Katniss patiently waited for Cato to storm around the room and break everything within distance as he always did to deal with his obstreperous anger, but it never happened. A quiet filled the room, a silence more uneasily than the one that took over when Snow had been in the room beforehand.

Sparing a curious glance, she blinked upon seeing Cato just sitting there remotely. His arms were loose by his sides and his hands weren't even gripped to sheer whiteness like she expected them to be. They were temporarily curled, unmoving, while the rest of his body resembled more and more of a stone statue. His eyes were uncharacteristically lifeless, but she could not tell whether or not he was too involved in his thoughts at this point. She tilted her head as she leaned in to inspect him more closely, touching his shoulder.

"Katniss, do you love me?"

The girl slightly jolted back in shock of the soft question. "Yes, Cato," Katniss managed to make it sound firm. "You know I do."

Cato's blue eyes averted to the side, almost in a shy manner. "Sometimes, I find it hard to believe why you would love someone like me." His voice was just…odd. Too quiet. It felt as though Cato was talking more to himself than Katniss. "Who would love a monster like me? _Nobody._"

Katniss touched his wrist. "Cato—"

"And now, here we are, forced to marry because of something I did. Those stupid berries." He chuckled.

Was he _insane_?

"You don't want to marry me, do you?" she asked, clearing her sudden dry throat.

Whatever reverie Cato had placed himself in that moment snapped once Katniss uttered that question. Eyes blazing with former life once more, his hands awoke from their stoicism and gripped her thin shoulders tightly. "Don't you _dare_ say that ever again," he hissed through his teeth, even giving her shoulders a rough shake. "I _love_ you, Katniss, don't you understand that? Of course I want to marry you."

By the wary look on her face, Cato's hands instinctively slacked from their hold. His fingers began stroking the sides of her forearms, as though silently apologizing for his recent action. "I just wished we were married under our own circumstances."

Katniss tried to smile for him but it came out as a small grimace. Refraining from sighing, she leaned in more and slipped her arms around his frame, seeking comfort wherever she could. She fully relaxed once she felt his arms wrap around her waist, his digits balling the back of her shirt tightly in his fists.

"We don't have a choice now." _And_ _probably never will again._

**(IV.)  
><strong>Their unorthodox engagement had been properly recognized exactly one day after President Snow's visit. The media had fed the district of this unexpected news quicker than wildfire. The Capitol had gone mental once the inter-district lovers properly officiated the date of their wedding and it's all that was ever being talked about on television. If Cato and Katniss had been famous before, they were by far the two most famous people in Panem by now.

How quickly a month could pass by.

Before she knew it, Katniss was in her wedding dress on the morning of her wedding day. Cinna had really outdone himself this time—her slender body was contained in a long-sleeved gown that resembled the beautiful women from the vintage era, if Panem ever had such an era. The pristine dress had a modest v-shaped neckline and an accentuating waistline, and her prep team merely cooed ecstatically at the sight of crepe satin and rich chantilly lace. The highlight of the gown must have been the rear where a row of studded pearls lined the back from the nape of the neckline to the hemline, accompanied by delicate scrolled embroidery that was also designed at the sleeves.

Her black hair had been braided and twisted in an intricate way that was incorporated by the effects of both her main stylist and her mother. The hairdo specifically left some curly dark strands to frame her white face. The finishing touches to her whole ensemble had been gorgeous satin white shoes upon her bare feet and, of course, the veil composed of sheer tulle that Cinna had slid into her hair at the last moment before the ceremony. She was not the Girl on Fire this time, but rather the epitome of the perfect bride.

"You look beautiful," Prim gasped from beside her.

Katniss grinned at her younger sister, touching the little girl's blonde hair gently. "So do you, Prim."

Prim tilted her head upward. "But no one will be looking at me."

"You look pretty decent there, sweetheart."

Katniss shifted around in her white dress face her former mentor. In all rarity of times, Haymitch was looked sober and she couldn't help but notice that the older man was quite handsome in a rugged kind of way once he cleaned himself up. He was donned in a black suit, which was something she never thought she'd see on him any day. Nevertheless, she smiled upon seeing Haymitch up at this early time in the morning.

"Since your father is…you know," Haymitch started gruffly, looking at the ceiling. "Your mother asked me to escort you down the aisle and it's alright if you don't want me—"

"I wouldn't want anyone else," Katniss found herself saying before she could stop herself.

Haymitch grunted, but she could tell there was a grand smile on his face.

"Places everyone!" Effie Trinket was heard in the background.

It was time.

Dahlia started to look teary before the ceremony even began. "You look so beautiful, Katniss," she whispered into her older daughter's ear, her arms winding tight around the younger female. "Are you sure about this?"

Katniss thought about saving everyone she loved, preventing them from the terrors of what President Snow could really produce. Not to mention she was, in a way, protecting Cato as well. "I've never been surer about anything else than this." It wasn't a complete lie.

Her mother kissed both her cheeks, hugging Katniss close to herself once more before finally releasing her hold and letting Effie usher everyone out of the room. Cinna was hurriedly pulled out, not before giving bestowing Katniss a sweet kiss on her cheek. Prim had beamed brightly, waving at Katniss with her small hand before disappearing out the door too. It was not long before it was only her and Haymitch in the room.

"Are you sure about this?"

Katniss couldn't help but laugh. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

Haymitch eyed for a moment or two. "Because I didn't take you for the marrying type." He gazed at her once more before shrugging his shoulders, offering his arm for Katniss to loop her hand through.

"Neither did I," she whispered inaudibly to herself.

_To think that Katniss had once been the girl who knew deep down that she would never marry anyone, that she would never produce children to start a family. The female who had once loudly scoffed at the idea of being in love seemed so far away now, almost like a distant memory to her—_

She paid no attention to the decorations of the wedding ceremony, no matter how beautiful it was. It was truly amazing what the Capitol could get done in less than a month. She paid no attention to place that was mostly filled with rich and strange altered people of the Capitol. Katniss paid no attention to the cameras behind the white, marble pillars, forgetting the fact that the entire wedding was telecasted live for Panem to see. She took no notice on whether or not she was stopping Haymitch's blood circulation by gripping his arm too tightly.

Katniss did however see the vision in the stark black tuxedo up ahead. It was a suit that had magnificently outlined every muscle on his tall body, his neatly pressed, button-up dress shirt doing wonders to his overall appearance. His blond hair was a style that had unconsciously added up to that handsome factor of his. Forget how she looked, Cato looked undeniably and irresistibly _beautiful_. So much that it verily took Katniss' breath away. And his sparkling eyes— how it gleamed for no one but his blushing bride—_her_.

Their vows were simple and traditional in accordance to Panem's history. Her own vows had flowed out of her effortlessly, as though she knew that this was the right thing to do. Now upon reflecting back at this, Katniss had no second thoughts about her decision by now. To spend the rest of her life with Cato by her side—she wanted that. By the shining happiness in Cato's irises, she could tell he wanted this too, even if it had been forced by President Snow. Despite the threats and means that got them here, they would make this work.

"You may now kiss the bride."

Her heart sped faster the moment Cato lifted her veil. She unconsciously leaned into his touch when his palms were curved against her cheeks, his thumbs stroking her skin gently with surprising care for such calloused fingers. Before she knew what she was going, Katniss' hands were gripping the folds of his suit jacket, pulling him down abruptly so that she could touch her lips to his already. The audience chortled in amusement at her antics, but she couldn't care less.

Katniss would have preferred this to be in private instead of in front of a crowd filled with people she barely knew and instead of having President Snow's eyes upon the newly-wedded couple. These were the small things that ruined a potentially beautiful moment for her. Having their wedding as a distraction, she knew things were only going to get worse. Clinging to Cato tightly, she could feel the dark events that would foreshadow their precious marriage.

It was both perfect and terrifying.

_To be continued…  
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><p><strong>AN: **First of all, let me say that I'm _ecstatic _to have 100 reviews. Thank you to all those who reviewed in the past! Now, originally for this chapter, I wanted them to get engaged but I thought that was too similar to the second book, so I got them hitched instead. I figured that with them being married, things would only be much worse for them. I know this chapter was more Katniss-centered but I promise more Cato in the next chapter, which also contains the reaping and all that-only if you review, that is.

This is just a..eh, _suggestion_ but it'd be really great if I get up to 130 :)


	6. For Whom the Bell Tolls: V and VI

**(V.)**  
>A dreary storm seemed to be brewing in the skies—ashen clouds that mentally informed of foreshadowing tribulations infiltrated the normally wild blue yonder up above. Every single trace of the rounded sun was gone, hidden behind the blanket of dark gray as though the much needed warmth of daylight's brightest star was ruled and restrained by a supernatural iron fist. But upon closer inspection, the clouded expanse had tiny little flecks of white in them, thin beams of the sun peeping out of the miniscule holes.<p>

They weather was a larger copy of Katniss' turbulent eyes.

And _such_ a beauty they always were.

More so than usual, the sinewy female felt infinitely diminutive in his stalwart arms. Cato reckoned he could very well wrap his arms around her skinny frame twice, three times if he really pushed it. His strong, independent Katniss seemed to shrink threefold in his embrace, holding onto him with such vigor that it would be impossible to separate the two. He could feel Katniss mumbling incoherent sentences against his chest, refusing to let him go board the train. Neither of them had wanted Cato to leave, but it was President Snow's word that forced them to abide.

"It's only going to be for a week," Cato reassured softly, the deep timbre of his voice comforting to her ears.

Katniss despised feeling as vulnerable as she was now. "I don't care," she continued to speak with her face pressed completely against his upper torso. "I'd rather you don't leave at all."

An amused chuckle escaped his lips. "If I don't go now, who would volunteer to keep you safe?"

"Then don't volunteer."

"You know that's not an option, Katniss." The aforementioned female stiffened in his arms, and for a slight moment, Cato had thought she was going to pull herself away from him. His suspicions were only corrected when her arms squeezed around him tighter.

"Don't volunteer," she pleaded with him inaudibly, so quietly that Cato had to lean down closer just to hear her speak the words. Her nails were digging ever so slightly at the small of his back. "Please, Cato. I don't want to go through what I went though last year again. Please don't volunteer. _Don't_."

A cameraman at the train station dared to get closer to the couple, enabling the boy originally from District 2 to let an aggravated snarl slip past his bared teeth. The insolent cameraman jumped at the noise, having enough brain cells to take the reaction as just a warning to further not incur the younger male's wrath. As seen through Katniss' shoulders, the cameraman shuddered at the cold glance Cato pinpointed at him before scurrying back to his former spot.

At Cato's animal-like dissonance, Katniss had half a mind to whirl around and act even more so like a savage against all the members of the camera crew that stood rooted away from them by a couple of feet. It seemed that _privacy_ was eternally knocked off of each and every one of their vocabulary list and all they were worried about were taking a whole load photos to eventually display one as a cover shot on one of the Capitol's most distributed and popular magazines. She could never be alone with Cato, not even in her own house.

"If it was the other way around," he breathed against Katniss' cheek. "If I had to go into the Games and you had a choice to stay out of them, would you not volunteer if I asked you to?"

"That's not fair, Cato," came a hard response.

A somber smile. "Then you understand why I have to do it."

When the white uniform of a Peacekeeper flashed in the corner of Katniss' grey eyes, her vision flickered over at the man in annoyance before leaning on her tiptoes, kissing Cato with such quiet fervor. It was an intended peck, but Cato being exactly who he was, pulled the girl in for what he deemed a _proper_ kiss. And Katniss, surprising herself more than anything else, found that she didn't mind the fact that he never ceased being proactive in front of the cameras. Because she knew truth played out from their actions, that this was not an act to gain the public's favor.

"Sneak me in with you," Katniss whispered when the blonde kissed his way across her jawbone. The smile she felt against her skin indicated that he would have agreed with her nonsensical plan. "You're large enough. I'll have to hide behind you the entire time, but it could work if we walk quickly and not in a way that makes it look suspicious."

Cato's answer to that absurdity was a gentle kiss to her forehead. "I love you, wife."

"I love you, too," she crossed her arms with a grumble, distressed that her idea was dismissed so quickly. "Husband."

It surprised her how much she could say that word with such familiarity, as though they had been married much longer than the time that was actually allotted. Whilst Katniss silently bristled at the Capitol and what it stood for, most particularly President Snow, Cato lifted her hand, his lips kissing the silver band that adorned her marriage finger in a considerably sweet farewell gesture. She couldn't help it if she leaned more into his touch when his palm cupped her cheek.

The stormy-eyed female discreetly mourned the loss of the warmth against her face, mildly settling for the sight of Cato making his way over towards the steps of the train. _Mine, _she thought unquestionably, observing the many muscles that popped indubitably against his strong back, showing much of his strength even though he wasn't really flexing. Yes, Cato was hers and she wholly belonged to him.

"Katniss?" The girl in question looked up to find that Cato had been an inch away from boarding the train. There was a smile on his face, one that was usually reserved for her to see only, but she didn't deny the way his eyes darkened. "Don't you dare hang out with that asshole. I'll destroy the entire train if I find out you went to him."

By now, it was undeniable that Gale was a Grade A asshole to the best of that kind. Despite the idiot's inexcusable behavior before she had gone off on the Victory Tour, Katniss had still sent him an invitation to the wedding. The notion had left Cato naturally disgruntled, but Katniss had been semi-adamant on inviting the Seam boy. Turns out that Gale would rather work underground in the mines than attend his friend's wedding.

"Don't worry about that," Katniss rolled her eyes at the possessive trait that Cato was showing, an attribution that only testosterone-driven males seemed to all have in common. "Just get on the train already."

Yet, her words were a direction opposition to the emotion in her eyes. She didn't want him to leave and had made that fact clear all morning. Cato internally told himself to stop being a pansy and to board the train, reminding himself that it was only for a week. They would see each other again after all the reapings. But as he earlier found out that Snow was always watching their every move, the younger male was against the idea of leaving Katniss alone.

_She's not going to be alone, dumbass_, he cursed at himself. Her mother was going to be with her, and so would her sister be—both of which had never lifted a weapon in their lives. Oh yeah, Katniss was going to be in _great_ hands. But he always tended to forget the fact that Katniss was an expert at survival. She would handle herself well.

For what seemed like an entire eternity in that one day, Cato finally found himself seated on the window seat, somewhat alleviated to find that Katniss hadn't moved an inch where he had left her. Her eyes, a windstorm of emotions he couldn't comprehend all at once, was the last thing he remembered of District 12 before the train hurtled forward.

_with all my good-byes still hanging on my lips—_

**(VI.)**  
>Whispers and whispers composed of lies.<p>

"Look, it's him! Jenna, do you think he'll be reaped today?"

"Oh, he's so handsome!"

"Cato, would you look over here please? Smile for the camera!"

"I can't believe he married that dirty Seam _rat_. I would treat him _way_ better than that bitch—"

The pompous girl didn't have time to finish then end of that comment before she let out a loud yelp, struggling against her rough handler as he forcefully shoved her against the wall of one of the buildings that let to the town square. This plain girl, a snub-nosed, bratty brunette, wasn't even close to holding a candle to Katniss' exquisite comeliness. The unidentified female's widespread eyes bulged quite comically as he tightened his fingers around her throat.

"That's my _wife_ you're talking about," Cato narrowed his eyes dangerously, a growl rippling up his own throat to expose the damage he was capable of pulling off, regardless of the gender in his aversion.

Her dull eyes widened even more. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean—" she made pitiful choking sounds.

"I _know_ you didn't mean it," he threateningly leaned in closer to the girl, his nose almost crashing into hers. "You couldn't have meant it unless you don't value your life. I don't want to hear that shit about my wife again, _do you hear_?" At the last enunciated words, he banged her head against the wall hard enough to get the message through, but not enough to knock her out.

She barely managed out a nod before Cato came pushing brutally at her again. "And trust me, I have no problem with beating up a girl in plain public."

Cato let her go again, watching the way the girl slid down the wall and seemed to curl into a protective ball. He wrinkled his nose in disgust—a gesture he had witnessed Katniss done many times—unable to find any sympathy for the girl that dared to bash about Katniss within his hearing zone before he whirled around to face the disapproving expression being omitted by the very light blue eyes he himself had inherited from.

Powerful, brutal, cocky Cato actually _flinched_ under the stern gaze of his mother.

"She was talking crap about my wife, Mom," was an immediate excuse.

The older woman, Amelia, pressed her fingers tentatively against her forehead. "I should have taken you to those anger-management classes when I had the chance," she muttered under her breath, but it was loud enough for him to hear.

"You said a bad word!" A little angel with tiny blonde curls rushed out from behind his mother, pouting up at him. She put her small hands on her hips. "Crap is bad word, isn't it, Momma?" she looked towards her mother for reassurance.

"No." This came from a boy almost exactly identical to the curly-haired girl. "Shit is a bad word."

"_Connor!"_ Amelia admonished.

Successfully out of his mother's perusal, Cato laughed to himself before picking up his younger sister, Cordelia. As they continued their short journey to the largest town square in District 2, he could overhear his mother still berating Connor not to randomly say bad words at all. Knowing that this would exactly piss his mother off, Cato conspiratorially whispered a list of the most raunchiest curses into Cordelia's ear, accompanied by her bright giggles exposed to the air.

Before the family separated into their designated areas, Amelia tugged at her eldest son's sleeve. She would be one of the few mothers that would have to go through the terror of seeing her child into the arena once again. With the Peacekeepers around, Cato could only spare a tender kiss to his mother's cheek, doing the same to Cordelia as he let her down. He ruffled Connor's hair with his fingers before detaching himself away from them to go onto the golden-roped area that held all the living victors in the last seventy-four years.

Not admitting this to anyone but himself, Cato feared the year that Connor and Cordelia would be eligible for the Hunger Games. He knew that year was a long way to go, but he didn't pretend that the twins weren't safe from them.

Some of the male victors he had surrounded himself with looked wary, as though the thought of re-entering the Games didn't appeal to them quite as much as it did decades ago. Of course, the more younger victors still obtained that murderous gleam in their eyes, their bodies rigid with anticipation as they waited for their escort to pull out a name. Most of the males stared each other off, coming to the conclusion that there would be a full-on brawl right in the square to get to be one of the tributes to honor and represent District 2.

But then Brutus stalked towards the roped area with an expression that couldn't be reckoned. He glared at all the male victors until they all looked away first. Intimidated out of the wanted title, it would seem that Brutus would be this year's male tribute because he wanted it _that_ bad. The thirst for spilt blood was inevitable in his stone-cold face. Though unspoken, it was already silently decreed that Brutus would volunteer.

Yet Cato would rip his head off before Brutus even had the chance to step on that stage.

Right went the grand clock struck nine in the morning, Pisces was greeted with enthusiased applause. After the routinely speech and all that, she dropped her finger into the girls' reaping bowl. Halfway through saying the designated tribute's name, a loud tumble erupted in the pen holding the female victors. Cato snorted at the scene of women pulling each other's hair, watching as it prolonged five minutes before Enobaria walked proudly onto the stage.

The woman smiled a smile that had underage children hiding behind their mothers, only to be forced out back in the clearing by their no-nonsense fathers. Enobaria's gold-tipped fangs gleamed under the sun, making her look more like a dysfunctional, malevolent vampire of the Capitol than a victor of a district.

Pisces then happily obliged to putting her hand into the males' reaping bowl. She had taken a slip of paper, opening it up, before reading it out to the whole district—

"I volunteer!" Brutus shouted, his leg already lifting over the rope.

_Fuck no. _

The man had managed to get only one leg out of the area before Cato rushed in from behind, severely tugging at the leg that was currently lifted it over and dragging Brutus back into pen with one hard pull. The angry shock was clearly registered in Brutus' face, glaring up at the boy he used to mentor and preferred over all other trainees in the past. With instincts shockingly still fast for a man his age, Brutus tackled Cato to the ground and it wasn't long before they became a tangle of precise punches and sharp pressings of the knees.

_Katniss sat rigid in the chair that was centered at the prestigious ballroom, where the wedding decorations looked insanely majestic, if not just a tad bit superfluous. She watched stoically as her new husband was undertaking the process of having his two hands tied behind his back by some random Capitol people as the whole room screamed raucously for the groom to remove his new bride's garter from her leg. They all unanimously wanted him to do it with his teeth rather than traditionally done by the hands. _

_The Capitol citizens had provided this entire wedding and reception for the two of them so it was nearly impossible for them to disagree with the exact predicament they wanted. As the most loved couple of the Capitol, their conjoined duty was to please each and every one of them. The newly-wedded couple had to smile when the cameras wanted smiles, dance when the people wanted to experience a loving moment, cut the cake when everyone deemed it was the right time. _

_Not to mention that they were watched keenly by a human snake—_

I love you, _Cato mouthed, hoping that would at least make the situation a little better. _

_Katniss only nodded. _I love you,_ she repeated tonelessly. Her steely eyes swept the grand room, narrowing at the ridiculously-colored Capitol people who tended to ruin everything. _I just hate them.

_Hopefully, the white-haired cobra didn't see that. The whole room hooted and hollered loudly when Cato came upon his knees before Katniss, his hands wringing uselessly behind his back. More wolf whistles controlled the citizens as the bride lifted dress skirt a small fraction before Cato came crawling in. _

_Her legs were shaking underneath, more out of anger than nervousness. He kissed her inner thigh, running his nose over the smooth surface of her skin, hearing her breathe out a tiny sigh before his teeth bit at the edge of the white material that stretched around her upper leg. Pulling at it was his teeth, he easily slid the garter out of her leg and popped out of the folds of her dress, crawling out with the garter hanging out of his mouth like a farcical dog. _

_As they were embarrassed as fuck, their audience knew nothing else but to laugh and cheer. _

Cato let out a roar that had been building in this entire time, shocking those around into minor submission. He punched his old mentor twice, irrationally wanting red blood to coat his fingers because Brutus had just threatened to kill Katniss in the arena. The _I'll kill your sweet little wife by running my blade through her stomach and letting the grass become drenched with the liquid of her blood_ rang in his ears like a crazed mantra, enough to turn him into the well-known monster everyone knew him to be.

Once the ground was colored with red that ran from Brutus' unconscious face, Cato stood up and walked towards Pisces, staring unseeingly at anyone who warily glanced at his way. He let Pisces shakily announce the two tributes of District 2, refusing to look at the faces of his family, before he marched into the adjacent Justice Building on his own accord, running a trembling hand through his blonde hair as he regained his breath by the wall.

"That was _beautiful_."

He inclined his head to see Enobaria's golden teeth. "You looked as though you were going to kill him with your bare hands," she continued in a low purr, flashing him a sinisterly smile. "I thought you weren't going to stop. Nice work, kid."

With that said, she brushed past him, hands lingering longer on his broad shoulders. The woman was insane.

Cato had broken his promise.

He had promised to go look for Katniss in the train right after her reaping was done. He had promised to come find her and figure out a plan with Haymitch, but all he had done was lock himself in his room in solitary confinement. He hadn't realized that he had broken his promise until his wife had coming storming into his room that night, her eyes blazing—always blazing with an impeccable revelation of emotions.

_because eyes are the windows to the soul—_

"I don't want to sound like the nagging wife," Katniss started tersely, slamming his bedroom door behind her with a quick jerk of her foot. "But I recall you saying that you would come find me after all the reapings were done."

He didn't answer.

Katniss quirked her head, her eyebrows furrowing. "Cato?" she tried, only to see that the male remained unmoving on the bed, with his back faced to her and the side of his head pressed against a pillow. "Cato, what's wrong?"

Nothing.

She immediately assumed the worst.

Running over to the other side of the room, Katniss let out a relieved sigh to find that his eyes were blinking. She sat down at the edge of the bed, her back approximately near his stomach as she grabbed his hand. "Cato?" Again, she wasn't met with a direct answer, but at least he wasn't dead or anything like that. Her fingers stroked the many calloused marks he seemed to have, wondering if Cato had been absurdly young to first start handling weapons.

"Is this because of what happened during your reaping?"

The ice broke. At her inquiry, the blonde male instantly snatched his hand away from her grip. "You saw it?" he asked, watching as Katniss nodded normally. In retaliation to her response, Cato scooted further away from her.

She grabbed at his arm before he could move another inch. "Cato, no—"

"How can you _stand_ to be so close to me?" The District 2 male demanded, pushing himself away from her across the bed until he was on his feet on the opposite side of the room. "You saw what I did, Katniss! I almost _killed_ him! I almost killed my own mentor…" _Monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster—_

"You were provoked," Katniss softly intoned, running to Cato in a flash. "I heard everything Brutus said about me. You were only defending me."

"Really?" Cato replied with such eerie darkness. "How do you know I didn't want to kill him right then?"

"You're not like that." _I know you're not._

"How do you _know_?"

In that moment, Cato seemed to mentally regain sight of his former self, if not escape the temporary insanity that had seeped through him. The black-haired girl took a step forward to him, continuing after he hadn't moved. She pressed her body against his, her hands running up the columns of his neck before touching his cheeks. She slowly stroked the skin there, taking his handsome face into her vision before smoothing back his short hair with her fingertips.

"Because," she murmured, her words muffled against his shoulder blade as her hands made a downward trek back to the nape of his neck, where she played with his hair there. "We love each other. Never less than that. Only a true monster is incapable of loving."

He was utterly hypnotized by her melodious voice, the way his blue eyes glazed over with her words. From the start of last year's Games to now, Cato had always protected her and succeeded while doing it. It only seemed fair that Katniss should give back. With her hands to his chest, she pushed him towards the bed, noticing the way he moved robotically. She gave him one last shove before his large form tumbled onto the bed, his back rested against the mattress.

"What are you doing?" His eyes widened when she crawled onto the bed also, coming atop him with her slender knees straddling his waist. She pushed back his hair with a pale hand before dropping light kisses along his throat. "Katniss, no…"

"Don't refuse me," Katniss whispered against his neck, her lips relishing the taste of his skin. "You need this, Cato," she added even more so quietly, taking a spot of his skin between her teeth to nibble at it not-so-gently.

That liberated a harsh intake of breath from the male underneath her. Katniss knew it wouldn't be long until he took over, and she wasn't disappointed when Cato grabbed the back of her neck and pushed her head down to meet his lips roughly, all biting and teeth scraping. It was a much different way of how he usually was with her, one that actually involved drawing blood from her lips only to have him lick away and repeat the process. He didn't treat her like some gentle, fragile thing, but it still left her gasping and writhing up against him.

She voluntarily arched against his body, feeling every inch of him with hers. It _thrilled_ her that Cato wasn't holding back this time, that he wasn't restricted by his own set limitations. She would probably have a hard time walking the morning and he would most likely turn self-detrimental after realizing what he had done, but she didn't care. Katniss closed her eyes in blissful pleasure, her head falling back to the soft pillows behind her.

Cato ripped open her shirt with his teeth, small buttons flying in every direction.

_To be continued...  
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><p><em><em>**A/N:** And it ends there because I can't right a decent sex scene if it depended on my life. So, we're finally into the Quarter Quell, where we meet Finnick and Johanna and Beetee and all that good stuff. I'm still figuring out who I want my mockingjay to be. If I choose Katniss then it'll be similar to the book, but if I choose Cato then that'll be...quite the stretch.

****I don't want to be a review whore, but I noticed that a lot of you are alerting and favoriting this story (which makes me happy) but the same amount doesn't reflect in the reviews. If all of you just contributed one review, it'll make my day. Seriously. I love hearing what you all have to say and I read them with the same interest I have for an actual fanfiction online. So please review and let me know what you think. Oh, and happy late spring break everyone!


	7. For Whom the Bell Tolls: VII and VIII

**A/N: **I feel like I should address this certain issue that's been coming up a lot, and you all know what it's about - how did Cato and Katniss meet? Honestly, when I wrote this story, I envisioned them already knowing each other and I never really thought about how they met. This story was kind of those fics were that fact was already implied. But if you guys want, if I ever finish this fic first, I could write a oneshot about how they met and all that. It's up to guys, of course. Other than that, hope you all enjoy this chapter and don't forget to review ;)

Is it too much to ask for 200...?

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><p><strong>(VII.)<br>**"I can't believe Cinna put you in that thing."

The corners of Katniss' right eye twitched in irritation upon hearing the familiar voice of Finnick Odair. This bronze-haired, sea green-eyed, golden-skinned male beauty had not once stopped giving her vague sexual innuendos ever since the first day back at the Capitol, despite verily knowing the fact that she was _married_. To Cato of all people, no less. Finnick must have wanted an early death wish, which was why Katniss oddly felt inclined to not tell her husband of all these seemingly harmless advances.

It was too easy to do that, all considering that Cato had been avoiding her as though she had a deadly disease. Katniss had woken up on the morning after that memorable night on the train to find an empty space beside her in bed, which never happened after they slept together. And so, the blonde male's self-affliction began by straying as far from her as possible, even while they were in the Training Center. Katniss supposed she should have expected this, but that didn't stop her from feeling distressed every time he didn't show up at night in her bedroom on the twelfth floor.

"He didn't have a choice," Katniss countered back defensively, not standing to let anyone criticize Cinna's beautiful work, not matter who she or he was. "President Snow made him."

Not sparing Finnick another glance, she shifted her priceless wedding gown in place before her gaze darted at all the tributes lined up against the wall, looking for the one person that would easily make everything better for her. The search wasn't long, for he had been just a few yards behind her the entire time, dressed in the same black suit that once again took her drawn-out breath away and erased all analytical thoughts.

In one second, she was grasped in his arms and Katniss was clinging onto him tightly as if she expected death to hit her right in the face that very moment. All the other tributes were categorized in a mix of emotions, but mostly anger and sympathy for the pair. To avoid the expressions of condolence she was receiving from the others, she pressed her face into his shirt, not caring whether or not her make-up was going to show on his white dress-shirt. Katniss reminded herself to berate him headily should he ever think of leaving her again.

Cato was a trained monster, yes. That much was true. But when he was like _this_, when he had the uncanny way of making her feel safe and protected and loved all at once without doing much at all, he was absolutely _perfect_.

"Where have you been?" she managed out, desperately trying to clear out her dry voice.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Here. At the Capitol."

He could feel the movement of her head shaking against his chest. "You know that's not what I meant." Her fingers unconsciously tightened at the back of her shirt, where she had slyly slipped her arms underneath the suit jacket.

"I just…" Cato didn't even want to remember what occurred that night on the train. How he had managed to let himself go like that was completely unacceptable. "I needed time to myself. I won't do it again," he promised reverently, dropping small butterfly kisses on every inch of her face until he saw a small smile lighting up.

Katniss let her arms fall limply to the side when Cashmere was called out. "You should go—"

"No," he interjected in a soft mumble, grabbing at her fallen hand with both of his. "I'm staying here with you until they call me. I mean, what are they going to do? Kill me?" he added with that trademark cocky smirk.

_They could, _she thought silently, but nevertheless leaned on his shoulder for the next couple of minutes while Cato played with their intertwined fingers.

The male of District 2 quickly kissed Katniss for a slight tender second before pulling away, once they have called him up onstage. Her hand stretched to touch his cheek, no doubt knowing that the cameras were intruding on this private moment like they did with every private moment they had between them. Gritting her teeth, she was somewhat calmed at the soothing hand Haymitch placed on her shoulder from behind as she trained her eyes on the television to watch her husband's interview.

Wet tears and anguished screams break out in audience once they see Cato in his impeccable wedding outfit. Of course his face would be a mask of indifference like the Career he was supposed to be, but for a moment, he shows a side of him to the Capitol that they've never seen before. Instead of the smirk that rightfully adorned his face, he looked into the crowd once before shooting them a forlorn, sorrowful smile, causing the audience to completely lose it.

It was the smile of a heartbroken husband.

Katniss almost felt tears prick at her eyes at that one smile, not knowing whether it was real or fake. A smile like that couldn't have been fake, even if it was for the world to see. God damn it all, she _hated_ the Capitol.

But Cato couldn't even sit on the on the chair before Caesar Flickerman demanded, "What are you doing, Cato?"

The male in question slowly blinked at him in bewilderment. He gestured to the chair behind him, indicating that he was going to sit down before Caesar adamantly shook his head. _What the fuck is going on?_

"We can't separate our newly-wedded couple, can we?" Caesar asked in a way that oddly sounded that it was illegal to ever separate Cato and Katniss. Amidst the tears and the heart-wrenching expressions, the Capitol crowd screams for the blonde male's missing companion. "Well, what are you waiting for, Cato? Bring your new bride out here with you!"

"Katniss…"

Cato was silenced by the riot in the audience once Katniss walked out onto the stage, her beautiful face unable to comprehend the situation either. People have begun weeping and collapsing at the sight of her white bridal dress, practically yelling for a change to this Quarter Quell. They begged for reconsideration, not only because they didn't want to lose the victors they have come to adore over the years, but because they most especially didn't want to lose their beloved star-crossed lovers to the excitement and trepidations of the Hunger Games.

Droned out in all the noise the audience was making, Katniss seated herself comfortably in Cato's lap, reminiscent of the interview they had at the end of the Seventy-fourth Games. It's all too familiar when he wrapped his arms around her small waist and she leaned into his touch in response. So many things have happened in the course of one year. With all the pandemonium the audience couldn't contain at the sight of the lovely pair, their conjoined three minutes of interview time were ticking away fast.

Even Caesar's professionalism was showing it's cracks. "So, what was it like for the two of you when you both found out about the Quell?"

Cato rested his head in the crook between her neck and shoulder. "I destroyed a room in our house." By the way he stated the fact, he hadn't meant it in a funny way but despite his flat tone, the crowd chuckled amongst themselves anyway.

"Yes, you would with the magnitude of your strength," Caesar smiled at Cato before directing his gaze to the black-haired girl that was sitting on his lap. "And you, Katniss?

_I wanted kill Snow with my bare hands. _

"I couldn't believe it," she intoned softly in place of what she really wanted to say. "That was why we decided to get married so quickly. I wanted to spend time with him as much as possible…" Katniss paused for some dramatic effect, feeling Cato grip her hips gently. "But then I realized we would never have that happy life we envisioned together."

The crowd mourned with her as more and more people had tears streaming down their faces.

"Surely even a brief amount of time is better than none at all?" Caesar offered, looking teary-eyed himself.

"Maybe I'd think that too, Caesar," Katniss replied, looking away from the interviewer with depressed grey eyes. "If it weren't for the baby."

It was pretty much an atomic bomb that would wipe out any efforts of the tributes that came after the couple. Not even Finnick Odair's charm with the Capitol could outdo what she had done. As the bomb explodes, it sent accusations of injustice and barbarism flying out in every direction. Even the most Capitol-loving, Games-hungry, bloodthirsty person out there couldn't ignore how horrific the whole thing was. She was pregnant. And it would be utterly cruel to send her into the Games when she carried an even tinier life inside her.

With the audience sounding like a herd of wounded animals, no one really noticed the way Cato's arms have visibly slackened around Katniss. His blue eyes were wide with terror and even his lips have begun to quiver. His heart was splintered beyond repair. All of the sudden, his already bleak world had shattered and crumbled underneath him and he felt as though he was in the process of falling in an endless abyss of darkness where hope would never even think of shedding on him.

Katniss—his brilliantly wonderful and skinny wife—was pregnant with _his child_. He was going to be a _father_. But there was a low possibility of that small abundance of life living because of the fucking Quarter Quell. One, Katniss could get hurt in the arena and she could miscarriage. He would never forgive himself if that ever happened, even if his wife would try to talk him out of the guilt. Two, being pregnant already gave Katniss a disadvantage. Every other tribute would automatically know her weak spot and Cato would pull off an Enobaria attack and bite their necks if they ever touched Katniss. And three, even if they were having a child together, the Capitol officials would never allow an encore of what happened in last year's Games.

They would never allow two victors again—not with the shit Cato pulled with the nightlock berries.

Katniss _needed_ to win. He didn't care if she objected to this fact, she was going to win. If not for herself and for the baby she was carrying. His heart broke even more at the thought that should Katniss win, he would never get to meet this special child of his. But Cato's meager life was a price he was more than willing to pay to ensure the safety of his family's life. He had his own family now to take care of now.

He couldn't think.

He couldn't _breathe_.

**(VIII.)  
><strong>_any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind—_

All Cato Nerva was exceptionally good at was breaking things. He was born to break _anything_, whether it be furniture or people's bodies because it was just so damn easy crushing them in his inhumane grip. In his world, breaking a table into two pieces was just the same as breaking another person's spine. Both contrasting aspects were immediately too delicate to his touch. Which was why it was normal for him to imagine ripping President Snow into two bloody pieces when he cleaved a mahogany table apart.

Ignoring the startled scream that was thrown out by Effie, Cato whirled to face Katniss.

"Why didn't you _tell_ me?" he asked in weak tone, his voice cracking in places that shouldn't be cracking, looking as though he was about to burst into tears any given moment. His hand reached out to touch her stomach, but at the last moment, his hand was snatched back to his side. "How far are you, Katniss? Couldn't you have told me earlier in private rather than announce it on live television? Is it a boy or a gir—"

"Calm down, boy," Haymitch cut in sharply. Now, in normal circumstances, Cato would have lashed out at the older man for interrupting him but the blonde male trained his disheartened gaze on his young wife. "It's madness out there," he indicated the commotion of the Capitol audience far below on the streets.

The younger male crushed Katniss to his body, still mindful of her condition. "You're going to win," he whispered against the dark tendrils of her hair that was free from the veil she had been forced to wear earlier. His eyes closed tightly, blocking everything out as he focused only at his Katniss. "Don't even think of arguing with me on this. You _have_ to win. If not for me then…" _For the baby._

"Cato…" Katniss looked paler than usual.

"Are they asking the president to stop the Games?" Effie asked, inching her head still at the noise out on the streets. The noise hasn't stopped ever since the tribute's combined efforts of improvising when they all held hands in an unbroken line as a form of unity in front of the Capitol.

Haymitch shook his head at the possibility. "There's no way Snow would ever cancel the Games. I don't think they know themselves what to ask. The whole situation is unprecedented and the idea of opposing the Capitol's agenda is a source of confusion for most people here."

Not wanting to hear any more of anything, Katniss grabbed Cato's hand and pulled him into her room. She didn't have to try too hard with that, since her willingly let himself be pulled by her. She gently shoved him inside before locking the door behind her, letting her head fall back against the door with a soft _thud_. When she looked up, she was surprised that there weren't any blankets on her bed. There was only a bed sheet.

There was a small note by the bedside table.

_As a treat for the Capitol people, show them everything. – P.C.S._

Show them _everything_.

There would be no blankets to hide their bodies in the act of love-making. This would be a last treat for everyone who was rich enough to buy their sex tapes before they went into the arena. Katniss felt blinding anger enter her before she ripped the little note to shreds and littering the floor of the room with these white pieces of paper that reminded her of snow.

"Katniss?"

"Please don't be angry with me," Katniss suddenly pleaded, sitting Cato on the bed before dropping to her knees before him. Her eyes were piercing him with something he couldn't understand. She grabbed Cato's hand in hers. "I didn't want to do it but Haymitch thought it would be good for the public and the sponsors, and I know that's not good enough of an excuse—"

Cato cupped her cheeks to stop her rambling. "What are you talking about, Katniss?" When she didn't dare respond, his thumb rubbed circles against her skin. "You can tell me. I won't get angry." He kept touching every surface of her face as she composed a deep breath.

"I'm not pregnant."

His movements against her came to a screeching halt.

"What?"

Katniss tightened her fingers around his hands before leaning her head against his knees. "I was never pregnant. While you were avoiding me these past few days, Haymitch came up with the idea of us having a child so that it could increase our chances of survival. He wouldn't let me tell you of this because your reaction would make it more believable to the audience and the cameras." Inhale and exhale. "We're not having a child, Cato."

"We're not having a child?" Cato repeated numbly. "No little boy?"

She flinched at his broken tone. "Did you want to have a child?" she inquiried carefully.

"I'll admit, this does making everything a little better," he chuckled quietly to himself, struck with the fact that he wasn't becoming a father anytime soon. He should be relieved or pissed off maybe. Why did he feel so _sad_? "Come on," he tugged at her arm, pulling her onto the cold bed with him as they lay side by side, hands loosely laced together.

"You didn't answer my question though," Katniss reminded him, intentionally refusing to look at him as she stared up at the ceiling instead. She didn't understand why he wasn't furious with her, to which she couldn't blame him, but she didn't dare question it either. Her husband was quite unpredictable when it came to his emotions.

Silence. "If I wanted children?"

"Yes."

Cato's lack of response was an implication that he was mulling over his thoughts. "Yeah, I'd like to have some brats of our own," he let a smile come across his face. Unbeknownst to him, Katniss was staring at his countenance, taken aback at how breathless she was by looking at him. He just looked so otherworldly in that moment, like an angelic being that didn't deserve to be in this cruel, cold world. "Four actually," he added absentmindedly.

Her twilight orbs blinked in surprise. "Why four?"

"Do you really want to know?" he turned to face her, brushing her black hair away from her face. Cato suddenly realized that they were still in their wedding clothes but before he could state it out, Katniss nodded at his question. "Well, the first one _has_ to be a boy."

_No little boy? _

That definitely explained why Cato hadn't added a girl to his earlier inquiry when she had broken the news.

"Why does the first one have to be a boy?" Katniss couldn't help but grin.

"It has to be a boy because he needs to take care of his family if something ever happens to his father." Katniss was instantly reminded of Cato's family and how he quickly took care his mother and his younger twin siblings after his father unfortunately committed suicide one day. "He can also protect his younger sister from all the good-for-nothing bastards that want to rape her in the streets. Oh, and the second one has to be a girl by the way."

"And the third?" Katniss pressed on, running her fingers through his short blonde hair.

"Another girl, so that the older girl would have someone to play tea party or whatever shit you girls play with when you're young."

"Okay…" she bit the urge to laugh at his ridiculous theory. "And the last one?"

"Boy," he answered without much thought. "So that there would be an equal number of genders in the household," he piped with a cheeky smile. "I won't have my future home overrun by females."

Katniss burst out laughing, rolling over until her chin was rested against his chest. "How about two?" she suggested, loosening the bowtie that was around his neck. "I think four would kill me."

"No," came an immediate response. "It has to be four."

Rolling her eyes, she knew better than to argue with him, especially everything she had put him through. She kissed his Adam's apple—for some odd reason, she always found it incredibly arousing to look at— and nuzzled his neck in a silent apologetic manner. "I'm sorry for lying to you."

Cato leaned up and took her lips with his, kissing her sweetly. "It's okay." The absence of his usual anger made her feel as though she didn't deserve this beautiful male at all. He was quick to change to subject. "What did the note say? You ripped it to pieces before I could read it," his eyebrow arched at her slightly.

"It was from Snow," Katniss replied stonily. "He wants one last good show."

"That explains why they're aren't any blankets."

The female nodded before slowly sitting up, getting ready to remove her dress before there was a deep shift in the bed behind her. "I'll do it," Cato murmured, kissing the shell of her ear before taking upon the tedious task of unbuttoning all of the pearl buttons on the back of her dress.

Once most of her back was bare, his mouth grazed lightly over her white skin. It was only a mere brush of the lips, but it felt pleasantly searing to Katniss. She leaned her head back against his shoulder, her lips parting for the cameras to see when she felt him suckle languidly at her throat, taking his time with everything, unlike the last encounter they've had in bed. The material of her dress was down to her shoulders now, her skin prickling with the cold at first but overturned by the warmth Cato gave her as he kissed and touched her everywhere.

As always, he would do a damn good job of making her forget.

_but all that's dead and gone and passed tonight—_

_To be continued…_


	8. For Whom the Bell Tolls: IX and X

**A/N: **Well, I actually updated earlier than I intended to-and that nearly killed me. Not only did you guys review for _However Long the Night_ (thank you so much by the way) but you also reviewed for the _author's note_ I had posted up, which was beyond amazing. You guys are seriously and astoundingly awesome. The reviews were my ultimate motivation for getting this chapter done.

So I'm thinking the next chapter will be the last one for this part before I go on to part three, which deals with the _Mockingjay _events and all that. I'm still pondering on whether or not I want this fic to have a happy ending. The thought of a tragic conclusion appeals to me as well... Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to all of those reviewers who initially thought I was going to discontinue the story when first seeing the author's note.

* * *

><p><strong>(IX.)<br>**_The little girl up in the tree couldn't understand what was so wrong about her sometimes. It was as though the students at school all collectively agreed not to associate with her at all, and the fact that she was from the Seam had made everything else three times as bad. She had a hard time comprehending why the kids at school didn't like her. After all, she had attempted to be nothing but nice to all of them. She wasn't that unapproachable was she? _

_Her father would sing to her whenever she felt particularly lonely—which was almost every day— making up as many ridiculous words as he possibly could as the song progressed to make her laugh, yet it always turned out sounding so beautiful in the end. Her father was working the mines like he did daily and her mother was busy playing with a four-year-old Prim, and since there was no school today, that left Katniss alone once again. _

_But rather than continuing to be morose about how she had a hard time making friends, Katniss had grown rather used to the concept, learning to accept that maybe solitude was better than companionship, and eventually preferring to be by herself than with a group of kids her age. Only eight and she had already given up on the prospects of friendship. She liked spending her days on a tree, listening to how the wind bristled the leaves on the branches. She liked hearing dried leaves falling to the ground, crunching so slightly as they shifted with the current of the breeze, tumbling backward—_

"_What are you doing up there?" _

_Katniss gritted her teeth and ignored the boyish voice that interrupted her peace. If it was another one of those merchant kids making fun of her, she was going to rip off one of the smaller branches and throw it right at them. _

"_Hey, I'm talking to you!" _

"_What?" she snapped, maneuvering her head around foliage of the thick tree to find herself looking down at a blond, blue-eyed boy. Katniss had thought it was that Mellark boy at first and was about ready to tear off that branch when she looked even closer to find herself staring at a stranger. "Who are you?" she blurted out, having never seen this boy around this district before. _

"_Cato," he declared with obvious importance, his chest puffing out a bit. _

"_That's a weird name." Maybe _this_ was the reason why she had trouble making friends. _

_His face flushed red with anger. "Oh, yeah? What's yours?" _

"_Katniss." _

_The boy's eyebrows pulled together. "Cat's piss? What kind of name is that?" he blatantly pointed out with a self-indulgent smile. "That's an even dumber name than mine." _

"_It's _Katniss_," she growled back, her voice even louder to correct his mistake. _

_Just who did this insolent boy think he was—_

Her skin felt as though it was being slowly punctured with a knife.

The experience brought back a memory to her—one where she had taken surprising initiative and dropped the nest of tracker jackers on the sleeping Career packs from last year's Games. Was that happening to her right now? Did someone up in the trees above throw a nest of mutant bees at them while they were asleep? Her thoughts were quickly proven wrong once she noticed there was a fog surrounding their group, infiltrating the air with a sickeningly sweet odor that prickled her nose. Wherever the droplets of mist touched her, she immediately blistered.

Cato was already up, tugging her up to her feet alongside him with one single pull. It didn't take too long before she figured out that the chemical-laced fog does a whole lot more than just burn skin. The fog must have created some negative reaction to her nerves because her arms have already started the first phase of twitching on their own accord while she felt hapless from the effect. She noticed that the same thing was happening to Cato, but his strength luckily prevailed over hers, and he fought the lack of control with tightly clenched fists.

"Come on, Haymitch!" she yelled over her shoulder, snapping her arms sharply to keep them from jerking. From where she stood, she saw Finnick was up ahead, carrying a slumbering Mags on his back.

Her mentor was easily the sluggish of the group to begin with. "Can't you see I'm _trying_, sweetheart?" he uttered through clenched teeth, proceeding to curse every foul word he knew when his legs moved spasmodically.

"_Fuck," _came Cato's rough expletive before he closed the gap between him and the older man, his body bent at an angle as he threw Haymitch over his back. Katniss knew that Cato's strength was incredible, but under the heady conditions they were in, this was complete suicide. She knew that Haymitch couldn't be a light passenger.

Katniss tried to go faster—because really, she didn't have the excuse of carrying anyone on her back, so she should relatively be faster than her entire group altogether—but part of her refused to leave her husband's side. She strayed somewhere in the middle of their alliance, following Finnick's lead yet consciously looking back over her shoulder to make sure Cato and Haymitch were still there. As the acidic droplets seeped deeper into the pores of her skin, her eyebrows furrowed together in frustration the moment she felt her right leg going stiff.

The ground came crashing to her face before she even knew it.

She heard a slight rustle by her ear. "Katniss? You have to get up."

"I know," she replied in an incoherent mutter, hitting her palm against the ground before throwing herself up to stand on her wobbly legs, looking like a stupid marionette on strings.

All of the sudden, the idea of this terrible fog made much more sense now. The arm-jerking, the trembling legs, the effects of the fog—these were all intended to make them look like manipulated toys and they were most certainly all physical descriptions of how the Capitol had the power to control them. Despite each tribute this year having won the Games before, they would always be the Capitol's mindless puppets.

Well, how clever of them to come up with this.

"Do you need help?" Although she probably couldn't do much, Katniss couldn't ignore the uncontrollable jerking Cato's arms were doing as they strived to hold Haymitch in place.

"Like you would be much help," Cato shot back at her sarcastically, mustering a small smile. "Just keep walking."

After stumbling to her knees four more times, the thickening fog ceased following them at what it seemed to be the chartered territory of the sandy beach that surrounded the Cornucopia, unable to follow the group in it's extent before gathering together and being forced to condense. A few seconds later, the fog spiraled upward towards the clouds, vacuumed out of the arena and into the skies, leaving no remnants behind. So the merciful Gamemakers have decided to keep them alive after all.

Finnick dropped the lightweight Mags near the wet shore of the beach, where the waters would lap up to her easily, before dragging himself into the waters. Cato, unable to obtain that luxury so quickly, threw Haymitch down right next to the still-sleeping Mags before being brought down unto his knees, breathing harshly through his mouth as his arms and legs quaked with poison. Because of Haymitch's added weight, the blonde male was forced to stray behind, receiving most of the dreadful fog. When Cato lied himself down on the sand, she wasn't sure whether or not he was unwilling or simply unable to go into the water.

Crawling a couple more inches, Katniss lurched forward, her arm flinging into the cool waters. The initial touch was painful to bear, but through the dark indigo layers of the water, she saw the milky substance leaking out of her wounds. Dipping her entire body into the water, she followed Finnick's prior actions and soaked all the poison out. Once deeming herself quite functional to help Cato, she spat out the saltwater out of her mouth before barreling back to the shore, moving swiftly back to the lethargic-looking male, taking the dagger from his belt and cutting away his jumpsuit.

She _needed_ to save him. Katniss had lost count of how many times Cato had saved her both physically and mentally.

When her hands folded together to cup handfuls of water in her palms, Finnick's head popped up from the water, pushing two large shells towards her. "These work better."

"Thanks," Katniss replied quickly, filling them with water before soaking Cato's arms first. They happened to be the most damaged of his body, her eyes crinkling when white substance oozed out of his arms.

"Ow…"

His response sounded oddly light and carefree, and for a slight moment, Katniss felt as though she wasn't in the Hunger Games at all. She imagined herself in her backyard with Cato, having hit him playfully in the head to get him to say the soft 'ow' in the same way.

Strenuously working her way up, she detoxified him bit by bit, starting from his feet. By the end of it all, the aftermath is nearly a white puddle surrounding his imposing body. Once Cato's eyes were open and somewhat aware, Katniss slipped into the water again.

"Finnick," she called out, gesturing to Cato's prone body. "Could you gently roll him into the water?"

Nodding, the male from Four slowly pushed at Cato's side, mindful of the ache that still controlled the blonde's body as he languidly rolled the younger man to the shore before giving one last gentle push. As his body tumbled into the water, the silver-eyed girl's arms swooped down to catch him from drowning, able to do so since he was imminently less heavy beneath the water. Her wiry arms wrapped around his waist, drawing him in closer as she let his drenching head rest against her bony shoulder, waiting for the water to work it's magic and clean his wounds.

"Katniss…" she heard an unintelligible mumble against her shoulder.

She stroked his hair tenderly. "Feel better?"

"No. I still feel like shit." There was her Cato again. She had thought she had lost him for a moment.

Ever so slowly, Cato was starting to regain most of his strength back. His head turned and pressed a soft kiss to the side of her neck, probably his way of silently thanking her for healing him, before extracting himself from her and beginning to lazily swim around, pushing forward until he was physically himself again.

At least it started out that way. But then Cato began doing all these impressive tricks he had learned from all those years at his academy, and when he winked at Katniss from where she was sitting on the shore and drying herself out, she couldn't help but scoff loudly and roll her eyes at his display.

_He's definitely himself again alright._

**(X.)  
><strong>Katniss suddenly remembered she was 'pregnant' when Cato kissed her stomach.

He was a better actor than she had credited him for—at least way better than she was. His fingers gingerly stroked her flat abdomen with utmost care, pretending there was actual budding life there before resting his chin atop her head. Hopefully, the Gamemakers would be kind enough to let them sleep in peace for one night. Ignoring the intrusive eyes of the world, she nuzzled her face at the corner of his neck, her arms snaking around him tightly.

"What do you think it's going to be?"

"Hmm?" she found herself asking, suffering from a small case of insomnia like he was.

"The baby." His long fingers were fondling her stomach again. "You think it'll be a boy or a girl?"

His whispers were loud enough for the Capitol's cameras to catch this, causing Katniss to think that Cato was far better at this than she was, even though she was involved in the plan firsthand.

She rhythmically rubbed at the protruding muscles in his back. "What do you want it to be?" the female questioned back, pecking his lips just for the Capitol's entertainment. However, Cato hadn't directly answered her.

"You know that bastard—I mean, my _father_—was a complete fuckhead, right?" Katniss involuntarily closed her eyes, leaning her head against him more when she felt him twirl a piece of her black hair around his forefinger. The male had the habit of doing this whenever he needed some form of comfort, but was too arrogant to admit it. Sometimes he would twirl and twirl until the straight strand of her hair became surprisingly curly.

"Yeah." For some reason, she knew that this wasn't just for the enjoyment of the Capitol anymore, that Cato was being serious right now at a time like this. "I hated him, you know."

Cato chuckled, the notion sounding acerbic. "So did I," he agreed amicably. "Even after he died, since he's always leaving his shit to someone else, we still had…financial problems." With their friendship prolonging back to the young age of eight, of course Katniss would know this information. The Capitol, on the other hand, did not. "That's why I was so willing to volunteer. I figured it would help out the family," he added with a small shrug.

"You never told me this," Katniss decided to play along.

"I didn't matter."

"Of course it does, Cato."

His light-hued hair shook, dismissing her response "I promise I won't be like him. I wouldn't—I wouldn't _dare_ lay a hand on our child, you have to know that, Katniss. I would never touch the kid like that." His dark pupils were largely dilated and solemn, and at the moment, she couldn't tell whether or not he was acting.

Cato would never willingly show weakness in front of all Panem, would he? But then there was that grieving smile he threw to the Capitol before his interview with Caesar Flickerman—that was a sign of his wavering strength. Before Katniss could truly divulge and analyze her husband's uncharacteristic motifs, a familiar beeping noise alerted their attention. Attached to the silver parachute was their first sponsor gift, a small basket filled with enough bread for all of them. It was Capitol-quality bread, so the gift must have cost a minor fortune.

The gift was sent from Effie, who controlled the sponsorship for District 12 since Haymitch was competing. Katniss couldn't help but feel intrigued that there was a note attached to the basket:

_You two are so adorable! – E_

Trust someone like Effie Trinket to comment on something like that during the Games. Nevertheless, she still silently thanked Effie for the basket anyway. The others of their alliance were all asleep, but the both of them weren't all that hungry during that time, so they saved the food for later. It must have been Cato who mainly contributed to that basket of baked goods. If he hadn't said anything about his determination on being a better parent than his father ever was, they would have never got that gift to begin with.

"He's going to have your eyes," Cato suddenly piped up again.

Katniss rolled on top of him in response. _"He?"_ she repeated with an arched eyebrow as she settled into her favorite resting position with him.

"We've been over this."

"Fine," she let a quiet laugh slip past her pink-colored lips. "I'd like him to have your eyes though. A lot of people have grey eyes in my district and after seeing so many of them every day, they tend to lose their touch."

With one arm cradled against her back, Cato gently brushed back the strands of hair that fell forward, covering part of her iridescent face that looked beautifully prominent under the full moon. "But I like your eyes. They have a strange color—"

"Well put, Cato," she muttered, sarcasm laced in her voice. "Very romantic."

"You do know it's rude to interrupt, don't you?" Cato flicked her nose lightly, eyes narrowing because on more than one occasion, Katniss had the tendency to do that to him all the time. "As I was _saying_, the colors of your eyes are odd, but that's only because I've never seen that type of hue before," he paused, taking in Katniss' subversive stare at him before taking the time to roll his eyes. "They're fucking gorgeous, alright?

The girl blinked. "Are you joking with me?"

_What is wrong with her? _"No," he tilted his head, eyeing up at her. "Most normal girls would take that as a compliment actually."

Sometimes, he wished Katniss would see herself the way _he_ saw her. Every inch on every surface of her was simply and utterly magnificent to stare at. After looking into her face day after day, one would have thought that he would have grown used to the way she looked by now. Yet all Cato felt was newly bewitched each time he looked at his wife, candidly gazing at her with some tame hints of salaciousness as his eyes took in their healthy dose of her.

Cato's head inched closer, his lips pursing at the bottom of her chin. "Our son's going to be hardheaded just like you," he brushed his lips teasingly over hers just to get her riled up by the lack of ardorous touch. Judging by the way Katniss was looking at him with surmounting irritation, he could tell it worked. "What a nightmare that's going to be."

"_You're_ the stubborn one," Katniss instantly argued back, glaring at him.

"And he'll take after my body structure, of course," Cato continued as though he hadn't heard her. "I'll have to train him—bulk him up a bit. Can't have him inheriting your perpetual skinniness. That would be pitiful. And I'll also have to—"

Katniss swatted at his head guiltlessly. "Don't insult me, you idiot."

"What did I say about interrupting?"

The male could not contain the surprise he had in him when he felt another pair of lips collide heavily against his. He was caught in a zealous kiss that left his mind completely blank. He had absolutely no time to properly respond, no time to equally match the intensity Katniss was pouring into before his mouth was abruptly released of its brilliant hold and the winds of the night now only grazed his scorching lips. He looked up at her wide-eyed, struggling to regain what breath he still had in him.

Shaking out of his short-timed stupor, Cato glowered harmlessly. "That was mean."

Katniss merely hummed, her index finger skimming his soft lips. She grinned when she felt kisses being pressed against that wandering finger. "Payback's a bitch," she murmured idly, implying of his earlier provoking of her.

Her husband opened his mouth to respond back to that, and Katniss thoughtfully prepared herself for it, but she was quite stunned when it never came. She patted his cheeks, hoping to draw out the response, but she realized that Cato wasn't even paying attention to her at all. His blue eyes had lost all emotions of their banter, and he didn't seem to be looking straight at her. Instead, his orbs were staring past her shoulder, up to the blacken shades of massive trees that belonged to the warm and wet jungle that was their arena.

Curious, Katniss turned her head around and quirked it up in Cato's direction. Hanging by the vines provided by the jungle, there was not one, not ten, but _scores_ of orange masses dangling above them. Her body froze, wondering when the hell these animals had surrounded their alliance without any of them noticing. It disturbed her how silent the monkeys had managed to pull this feat off. Their hideous fangs were bared, tremendous hackles raised for violent intentions, and claws ready to be used as dangerous weapons.

With a thunderous screech, they all shot out like bullets.

_To be continued..._

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><p><strong>Another AN: **Ah, one of those darn cliffhangers. Because let's face it- deep, _deep_ down, we actually enjoy them. I've added a little snippet of how Katniss and Cato met, but the whole thing is still a little vague. I didn't want to give too much away, like what the hell is Cato doing in District 12, you know? Don't forget to review because this story lives and thrives off of them :D

Man, I'm so tired... Hate high school. Can't wait to graduate already.


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